Rise from the Ashes
by JaninaM8
Summary: Robb and Sansa lose their family in a house fire. As they grieve, they become increasingly dependent on one another. Feelings develop that neither one know how to deal with. Contains Incest.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

It had started out as a regular night in the Stark household. Arya, then fifteen, had spent most of the night working on a project for her history class that she'd put off until the last minute. Ned, her father, forty-five years old, had been helping her. He hadn't been happy about the fact that she'd left her project until the very last minute and so there was some tension between the two.

Catelyn, her mother, forty-four years old, would pass through the kitchen where Ned and Arya worked together just to make sure things were going smoothly.

Bran, thirteen, had been playing a new video his mother had purchased for him after he'd aced a math test that she'd spent hours helping him study for.

Rickon, nine, had watched him play the game for hours in the hopes that "in a minute" meant any time now.

Sansa, seventeen, had been out with her friends and was planning to push her curfew to the last possible minute.

Robb, twenty-one, was out with his friends from university at a nearby bar, and planned to have them all come back to his apartment afterwards so their night could continue. He was really hoping the Frey girl that had just joined his circle of friends came over too, so he could maybe, finally, ask her out.

It was 11:06 by the time Sansa's friend Jeyne turned down Sansa's street. Sansa was hoping that her mother had fallen asleep and hadn't realized how late she was returning home.

"What the hell is going on here?" Jeyne asked when the firetrucks and police cars, and the crowd of people on the street came into view. "Holy crap, was there a fire? Do you see the smoke?"

Sansa did, and she could smell it, too, circulating through the car with the heat turned on low. Her heart leapt to her throat. She knew almost everyone on this street considering she had grown up on it. She had rode her bike up and down it as a kid and any time one of her neighbors were outside, they stopped and waved to her. Once, when she was ten, she had attempted a wheelie and ended up wiping out. She had scraped her knees and bruised her ego. Her then best friend Asha Greyjoy had taken her inside her house so her Mom could patch Sansa up. A few band-aids and an orange popsicle later, Sansa was on her way back home considering ways to try that wheelie again but with success.

The flashing lights and crowd of people before them made it impossible for Jeyne to go any further, plus all the commotion and trucks made it difficult to tell which house had suffered. Jeyne pulled over to the side of the road and parked. They both climbed out without a word and made their way to the crowd.

They were close to Sansa's house. Very close. Sansa wondered if it was the Greyjoy house, which was next door to hers. God, she hoped they managed to get out of the house if that was the case. She and Asha weren't as close as they used to be, but there was no ill-will between them. She couldn't imagine what it must be like to have a house fire. The fear and the panic to get out of the house and into safety, and then the despair of watching your house burn with all its memories and belongings.

"Sansa!" A hand clapped onto her shoulder and she looked over her shoulder and found Asha standing there, wide-eyed. Her mouth opened, but no words came out. Tears swam in Asha's eyes.

"Oh my God, Asha, are you okay?" Sansa asked and hugged her friend.

"I'm so sorry," Asha sobbed. "I'm so sorry, Sansa."

Cold and dread covered Sansa like a blanket. Her heart started to thump hard in her chest, and she had the sense of everything moving in slow-motion. Why was Asha apologizing to her? No. It couldn't have been… no. House fires happened to other people, not to the Starks. Not to them. The bad things in life always happened to other people.

"Sansa," she heard Jeyne whisper.

Sansa pushed her way through the crowd, trying desperately to see beyond the fire trucks. When she got to an opening and found a cop keeping people back, she looked up and felt as if she'd flown from her body.

It was her house.

Her house.

The Stark house.

"Mom," she gasped. "Dad."

"This is Sansa Stark!" someone shouted next to her to the cop blocking people from getting in the way of the firemen.

The cop looked at her and sympathy engulfed his face.

"My parents," she said frantically. "My siblings – where are they? Are they okay? Tell me where they are, please, I need to see them."

The cop's face crumbled into abject sadness. "I'm sorry," he said. "They didn't make it."

For a while after that, Sansa couldn't make sense of anything. It was like everything blurred. Her sight was compromised, and all the sounds around her were muffled. She had no sense of herself – everything was happening as if she was outside herself.

She did see Robb though. He came in some room – a hospital room? – and it was like her sight cleared enough for her to see him and only him. He looked awful. He'd been crying. He was still crying. His eyes were red, his face was wet with tears, and his curls were in disarray.

He came over to her and wrapped his arms around her so tightly she couldn't breathe. That was fine though. She didn't want to breathe.

* * *

The sequel is still rolling around in my head, but for now, this one won't leave me alone!


	2. One

Sansa had shut down the night of the fire. She barely ate, and there were long stretches of time where she just sat and stared off into space. She hardly spoke, preferring instead to communicate by pointing, shaking or nodding her head. There were dark circles under her eyes. There were dark circles under Robb's, too.

Robb felt guilty for being angry with her over the fact that she had completely retreated into herself.

While Sansa went mute, he dealt with all the crap that came with their family dying – insurance, wills, and settlements – he dealt with it all and he felt overwhelmingly dumb. Sansa sat by his side through it all, but she said contributed nothing. His Uncle Edmure and Aunt Lysa flew out from Minnesota to help, but there were still a lot of decisions that Robb, as Ned and Catelyn's son, had to make. It would have been nice to have Sansa help him make those decisions that affected her as well.

He had no idea about any of this shit. It wasn't as though he'd put much thought into his whole fucking family being killed in a house fire. In Robb's mind his parents were always going to be there. They were going to be there to see him graduate from university. They were going to be there to see him get married one day. They were going to be there when he was inaugurated as President of the United States. (One could dream, right?) He'd promised to give Arya's first date a hard time as he had for Sansa. He'd planned to teach Bran and Rickon how to drive and how to woo a woman.

Gram and Grampa Tully, Catelyn's parents, had headed out as soon as they'd heard. Grampa Tully couldn't fly – he had too much anxiety when it came to flying that not even a Xanax or a drug close enough to a tranquilizer could help, and so they were driving out from Portland. They were due to arrive that morning, exactly one week since the fire. They were old; Robb cut them some slack.

That morning, before Uncle Edmure was due to come by and go with Robb and Sansa to meet with the attorney regarding Ned's will, Robb watched Sansa push her eggs around on her plate. He talked to her even though she didn't talk back. He asked her if she still wanted to join him and Uncle Edmure to the attorney's office. She nodded. He asked if she wanted to take Gram and Grampa to the diner in town for dinner. She shook her head. Robb understood that. The Stark kids had been going to that diner since they were kids. Everyone there knew them and the idea of having to see all those people and be reminded of their visits there as a family was too much to bear.

Then there were the condolences. He hated it. He had enough to deal with, and having someone tell him how sorry they were for his loss was like a smack in the face. They were sorry for all of the 30 seconds they expressed it, but they didn't have to carry around any grief like he and Sansa did. He carried it like a two ton weight on his shoulders, and he was sure Sansa did as well. There was an ache in his chest he was sure would never leave him. How did one get over losing their family like that? He didn't think it was possible.

"Aunt Lysa mentioned taking us shopping for some clothes," Robb said. "You need a new laptop, too."

Sansa shrugged.

"Jeyne is going to be here at 3:30 with your schoolwork," he told her. "When I talked to the school they said to take as much time as you need, but I don't want you to fall too behind, okay?"

She nodded.

"Sansa, I need you to listen real careful with me today at the attorney's office. If something doesn't sound right to you, I need you to tell me, okay? I might not catch everything, and I need your help, okay?" He said this every time they had to meet with someone.

She nodded.

Robb sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Are you ever going to talk?"

She just looked at him, her expression blank and her eyes dull.

There was a knock at his door and the day began.

xxxxxxxxx

After meeting with the attorney, Robb, Sansa and Uncle Edmure met Gram and Gramps Tully along with Aunt Lysa at Robb's apartment. All of them except for Sansa shed tears. Her expression remained the same: blank. When Gram released Sansa from a one-sided tearful hug, Sansa looked at Robb and pointed to the doorway in the living room.

He nodded and she left the room.

"Where is she going?" Gram asked.

"To her bedroom," Robb said wearily.

"Is she going to sleep?"

"I don't think she sleeps," Robb said. "She sits. And stares."

"At what?"

"Out the window or the walls." Robb raked a hand through his hair. He was going to go bald at this rate. "She stares off a lot."

Gram and Gramps exchanged a look that didn't sit well with Robb. He had the fear then that they were going to suggest they take Sansa home with them when all was said and done. Uncle Edmure had suggested it one afternoon after meeting with the funeral home about the memorial service. Sansa had actually contributed to that meeting with nods and shakes of her head. Yes to the pictures that had been salvaged being shown on a screen, no to any Bible verses being uttered, yes to Uncle Edmure doing a eulogy, no to her doing one.

Robb had told his uncle that Gram and Gramps were too old to be taking Sansa on. Not that she was a hellion or anything, but she was a seventeen year old girl who'd just lost her family. They wouldn't know what to do with her. Plus, she was in her last year of high school. It was stupid to uproot her to a new school now. She'd never catch up and no, she was not going to stay behind.

Also, no way in hell was Robb going to lose the only member of his family he had left in Winterfell. No one was taking Sansa away from him.

Now he worried that Gram and Gramps were going to suggest it. He loved his grandparents – they were the only ones he had left – but he would fight them on this one. He just hoped Sansa agreed with him on this and wanted to stay with him.

Aunt Lysa suggested that Uncle Edmure and Gramps take Robb shopping for a suit for the memorial, and that she and Gram take Sansa shopping for the same. It was ridiculous, but Robb didn't like the idea of separate shopping trips. Sansa might not say anything, she might not contribute much to any of the meetings Robb had to go to, but she was always there, right by his side. She had been since that night. The idea of her not being where he could see her set his teeth on edge.

"Let's all go together," he suggested.

Uncle Edmure and Aunt Lysa exchanged looks. _What the fuck?_ Robb thought.

"Maybe you and Sansa should take a break from one another," Uncle Edmure said. "Maybe some time away from you will help her start talking."

Robb narrowed his eyes. "What are you trying to say?"

"You coddle her," Aunt Lysa said.

"We just lost our entire fucking family!" Robb exclaimed. He was sure as hell not going to mention now that Sansa not talking was grating on his nerves. He didn't want anyone to force her. Sansa was his responsibility, not theirs. She was his sister; it was his job to take care of her.

"Robb, calm down," Uncle Edmure said.

Sansa appeared then, her eyes wide as she entered the living room. She looked at Robb and no one else. She came over to him and looked up at him in question.

"Sansa," he said softly, "Gram and Aunt Lysa want to take you shopping for an outfit for the memorial. Do you want to go with them?"

She pointed at him and he shook his head. "Gramp and Uncle Edmure want me to go with them."

Sansa shook her head and burrowed into his side. Robb wrapped his arm around her. He looked at his uncle. "Sansa has decided," he said. "We go together."


	3. Two

While Sansa was in a dressing room in the department store they'd all ended up in, Gram and Gramp pulled Robb aside. His uncle joined them. Robb knew immediately what they were about and he was ready for the battle. Some part of him actually wanted it.

"Your Gram and I were talking on the way up," Gramp began. "We think perhaps it would be best if we took Sansa home with us."

"Absolutely not," Robb said.

"Robb, just listen to what they have to say," Uncle Edmure said.

"I don't have to listen. The answer is still no."

"Be reasonable, son," Gramp said with a decided edge to his voice. "She won't talk. That's not normal."

"Neither is losing your family in a fire," Robb told him. "Everyone handles grief differently."

"You let her do it!" Uncle Edmure exclaimed.

People turned to look their way, but Robb didn't care. He narrowed his eyes at his uncle. "What would you have me do? I can't _make_ her talk. I can only be here with her and hope that in time she will talk to me. She needs to go through whatever it is she is going through. Pushing Sansa never ends well for anyone. She and Arya are…" he broke off and pinched the bridge of his nose. No. He would not go down that road now. "They _were_ more alike than everyone thought. I'm of age; I can take care of Sansa. Taking her away isn't going to help her. You saw her tonight. She didn't even want to go shopping without me."

"As I recall, you were the one that didn't seem too keen on the idea of going without her," Gram said.

"Gram, Gramp, Uncle – I love you all very much and I'm grateful that are you here with us," Robb said. "But do not think for one minute that I am going to let Sansa go. You won't leave me here without her."

"You wouldn't be alone," Uncle Edmure said. "I told you when I got here that I was going to stay here for as long as you needed me." It had to be nice to have the sort of job that you could do anywhere, Robb thought. And to make the kind of money that allowed you to stay at a hotel for as long as you needed.

"We just think that it will be hard enough for you, Robb," Gramp said. "You're both in your last year of school, and what happens if Sansa not only doesn't want to talk but doesn't want to do her schoolwork? What if she starts failing? You have enough on your plate, are you equipped to deal with a teenager that doesn't want to do her work?"

"Sansa is seventeen, not thirteen," Robb said. "We have discussed her schoolwork and she has been working on it."

"Do you know that for certain?" Uncle Edmure asked. "Or did you ask if she did it and she just nodded?"

"Leave her alone," Robb snapped. "Sansa is my responsibility."

"But she doesn't have to be," Gram said gently. "You're still young yourself, Robb. You have your own grief to work through. You have school, graduation, a career to start, possibly grad school…we just want to help you both."

"And you think taking away my one remaining sibling will help? I know you all mean well, but I am not going to let Sansa go," Robb said. "And I won't have you talking to Sansa about it. She's been through enough. We both have."

He walked away from them then and waited for Sansa to finish trying on dresses.

xxxxxxx

Later that night, when it was just Robb and Sansa in his apartment alone, Robb stayed up to watch TV on his overstuffed and ratty couch. His apartment wasn't huge, but it worked for him and now it worked for him and Sansa. Before, the spare room had been a study. Now it at least housed a bed and a few of her things that had been salvaged in the fire. He wanted to be able to make it her own, but there wasn't enough time. They were lucky enough to have been able to at least get a bed for her to sleep on.

Once school was over, they would have to find a place to live together…unless she didn't want to live with him. He realized then that he didn't even know what her plans were for after high school. Was she planning to go away to college, not go at all, or go to Winterfell University like him? He didn't want to think about Sansa moving away; he wanted his sister close by.

He clenched his jaw and shut his eyes tight. He fought back the tears that wanted to come whenever he thought about how Sansa was all he had left. Sure there was Gram and Gramp, Aunt Lysa and Uncle Edmure, but they lived in other places and it wasn't the same kind of loss that they shared. He heaved in a shuddering breath.

"Robb?"

His eyes snapped open and he looked up to find Sansa standing in the doorway. She wore one of his t-shirts and long pajama bottoms. Her auburn hair was down around her shoulders. She looked at him awkwardly.

Robb wanted to say something to acknowledge that she'd spoke, but decided it was probably best that he didn't.

"Yes?" he said, hoping his voice sounded even and not as choked with emotion as he felt.

"Do you want me to go away with Gram and Gramp?" she asked. Her voice was small, almost child-like. It was a little rough, too, probably from not using it much the last week.

Someone had mentioned it to her. No doubt it had been Aunt Lysa while the others had pulled him aside while she was trying on dresses. "No," he said. "I want you to stay with me…unless you want to go with them?"

She shook her head, her blue eyes wide and luminous in the partial light. He extended a hand to her. "Why don't you come sit with me for a while?"

She nodded and came over, sitting down beside him. She put her head on his shoulder and Robb gave into the tears. He started to cry, despite not wanting to upset Sansa. Part of him was relieved she'd spoken, part of him was relieved she didn't want to leave him, and the other part was just plain grief.

Sansa lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him, her blue eyes full of sorrow. Without a word, she drew his head down to her shoulder and stroked her fingers through his curls as he wept.

xxxxxxxxx

Robb woke slowly the next morning slowly. It took him a few seconds to work out that he was on the couch. Also, Sansa was half on top of him, sound asleep.

Robb froze. The only thing he could think was that she was finally sleeping. The other thing he thought was that last night was the first time he'd slept through the night. These thoughts were followed by the fact that this was probably wrong to have Sansa sleeping on him like this. But…but he just couldn't bring himself to care. Not much anyway. He'd slept. She'd slept. What was the harm in falling asleep together if it brought them much needed comfort? If it allowed them to actually get some sleep? After a while though, Robb go up very carefully so as to not wake Sansa. He stood over her, watching her sleep. She was on her belly, her shirt rucked up exposing her sides. He frowned; he could see her ribs. Was it possible to lose a ton of weight in a week? He knew she'd had to have lost weight with all the not eating she was doing. If she wanted to go back to not talking, that was fine. But he would insist she eat.

He pulled the blanket down from the back of the couch and covered her. Then he leaned over and kissed the top of her head. "I will take care of you, Sansa," he promised her on a whisper. "I won't let anything bad ever happen to you again."

xxxxxxx

Sansa continued to speak. Not much and not often, but she spoke. Whether it was because she was ready to do so, or because she feared what would happen if she didn't after learning that Gram and Gramp had wanted to take her away, Robb didn't know. And he didn't care. Just as long as spoke.

Sansa was with him when they learned that the fire was caused by a space heater left on. He knew both Arya and their mother were always cold and fond of turning the space heaters on in whatever room they were in. They had always been careful, though. However, with the way their Dad didn't like turning on the heat until everyone was shivering and begging for it, anyone in the house could have done it.

Robb didn't want to assign blame. He didn't want to point fingers. Yet he couldn't help the anger that rose up within him. Who had done it? Who had kept it on? If they had just turned it off…

No. He couldn't go down that path. What was the use? What was the point? He didn't want to be angry at a family member…he felt guilt just thinking about it. They couldn't do anything about it now and what would it get him? It didn't make him feel better; it made him feel worse.

When they'd arrived home that afternoon, Sansa went to her room. A minute later he heard a series of thumps. Then a scream. He'd run down to her room and found her whipping books off his bookshelves and throwing them to the floor. Her face was red. Her blue eyes wet and filled with sadness and anger. When she saw him she screamed, bending herself in half and screaming at the top of her lungs.

Robb thought of the neighbors. How they'd complain.

He also thought of how just two days ago wouldn't talk and now she was standing in the middle of the room screaming her head off.

He understood though. He'd been feeling angry so much with his grief that sometimes it felt as though it would choke him. It wasn't fair that they were all gone. It wasn't fair that he couldn't yell at someone for taking them all away. And when he thought of how they must have suffered…

Robb opened his mouth and let out a long shout that come from his toes.

Sansa's eyes were wild; she reminded him of an animal this way. A wild animal that could not be tamed. Her eyes challenged him, dared him. And Robb responded by shouting again and again.

The neighbors came to the door and Robb and Sansa ignored them. Their anger temporarily sated, they huddled together on the floor and cried.


	4. Three

The night before the memorial service Robb lay in bed staring at the ceiling and thinking there was no way in hell he was going to get any sleep that night.

"Robb?" came Sansa's muffled voice from behind his closed door.

He sat up and flicked the lamp on that was beside his bedside table. "Come in."

The door opened and Sansa stood there rubbing her eyes. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she was wearing sleep shorts and a t-shirt. "I can't sleep," she murmured. "Can I sleep with you?"

Robb didn't know how to respond to that. It wasn't right for a brother and sister to sleep in the same bed. It was weird, and no doubt if any of their family knew about it they'd be dragging Sansa away from him. On the other hand, the only time either of them had gotten any real sleep was when they'd fallen asleep on the couch together. Didn't they deserve to find solace where they could even if it might seem wrong to the outside world? Who was anyone to judge what they needed after all they'd lost? She was the only one he'd been able to melt down in front of. They brought each other strength and he wasn't about to deny himself or her of that strength they both needed. Especially not tonight.

"Yes," he said, his voice a bit rough. She shuffled inside and crawled onto the bed next to him. She lay on her side and looked up at him, tears in her eyes. "When does the 'every day it will get easier begin'?"

Robb scooted down so that he was facing her. "I don't know," he murmured. "It's too soon yet."

Her voice trembled as she spoke. "If you could trade me for any one of them, would you?"

Robb's eyes went wide. He grabbed her face in his hands and moved closer to her, looking at her sternly, his jaw clenched tight. "How could you ask me that? How could you think I'd trade any of you? I am grateful that you are alive, Sansa. I don't wish one dead above the other. You're my sister and I love you."

"Sometimes I wish I was dead with them," she whispered.

He wished he was too, sometimes, but he wasn't about to let her know that. It would do no good to feed each other dark thoughts such as that. "You have to live," he told her. "You can't leave me. I need you, okay? I need you to stay. They wouldn't want us to give up. They'd want us to live and make them all proud."

"I was late," she said and began to sob. "I was late coming home. If I had been on time I would have been able to get them out."

" _No_ , Sansa, no," Robb and pulled her into his arms.

"They think the fire started at 10. If I had come home at 10:30 like I was supposed to—"

"No. You would have been dead, too."

"But—"

"Stop it," he said harshly. "You're playing the 'what if' game. You don't know, Sansa. What if you had tried and died, too? I would be here alone."

"Tell me it's my fault. Tell me I was being selfish by pushing my curfew—"

His hold on her tightened. " _No_. I won't let you self-destruct by blaming yourself." He pulled back and looked at her. " _I don't blame you_."

"But I blame me!"

"I won't let you," he said sternly. "You couldn't have stopped it. The fire spread too quickly, there was nothing you could have done." He knew it didn't really work that way, that you just told someone it wasn't their fault and they stopped blaming themselves, but he didn't know how else to stop her from spiraling. He had those thoughts too – if he had stopped by that night instead of going out would the fire not have happened? He had always been diligent about turning off the space heaters…

Logically he knew this was part of the process. They would both run the gamut of emotions and thoughts until finally they would make peace with it. He knew this logically, but it didn't make the moment any easier.

He held her as she sobbed in his arms, and after a while, she exhausted herself and fell asleep. Robb pressed a kiss to her forehead and soon he fell asleep, too.

xxxxxxxx

The following day at the memorial service, Robb and Sansa sat together with their sides pressed up against each other as though they gained strength from feeling the heat and solidity of each other's bodies. Robb held Sansa's hand in his as his aunt and uncle gave their speeches. Family that they hardly ever saw – cousins, other aunts and uncles and the like, came out of the woodwork that day. All of them having traveled from other places to be there.

To Robb, it was all a blur. He imagined it was the same for Sansa who sat beside him with tears streaming down her face. At one point, she put her head on his shoulder and Robb wrapped one arm around her and there they stayed for the rest of the service.

Robb had had a speech prepared, but he knew he wouldn't have been able to get through it. It was all he could do not to lose it as it was. He listened to the memories people had of his family, and his mind wandered to his own memories. Such as holding all his siblings for the first time. The water fight he got into with Sansa and Arya. How he'd helped Bran and Rickon learn how to ride their bikes. He remembered with amusement the time his parents had "the talk" with him. And he remembered how proud they'd been when he'd gotten accepted to Winterfell University and wanted to be a political science major. He remembered his father taking him shopping for his first car, and his mother wringing her hands in the doorway as he'd left the house with it for the first time.

 _I love you all so much,_ he thought, staring at the row of urns on a table near the podium where people gave their speeches. _And I miss you. Not a day will go by that I won't miss you. I'd give anything to have you all back. I don't know how I'm going to do any of this without you...Mom, Dad, I promise I'll take care of Sansa. Her and I, we'll support each other. I will keep her safe, I promise._

When the memorial service was over, Robb and Sansa had to endure people coming up to them to give them their condolences – family, friends, co-workers of both Ned's and Catelyn's, classmates of their siblings – it went on forever.

Not once did Robb and Sansa leave each other side. They stood together, their sides pressed together yet again, as they shook hand after hand and endured each word of sympathy uttered to them.

When it was all over, and all that was left was to take the urns home with them, Uncle Edmure, Aunt Lysa, Gram and Gramp helped them back to Robb's apartment. They set the urns on a shelf Robb had cleared of books in his living room.

It was late by the time everyone left for their hotel rooms, and when they were alone, Sansa collapsed into tears and Robb followed. They held each other, standing in the kitchen together until it was as if they had no more tears.

Sansa showered and changed and crawled into Robb's bed and he said nothing and gave it no thought. He wanted her there. He _needed_ her there. After he showered, he crawled in beside her and they wrapped around each other like vines and fell into an exhausted sleep.

xxxxxxxx

The start of the new week, after Aunt Lysa, Gram, and Gramps had left for home, Robb and Sansa went back to school. It had been a good couple weeks since they'd last been. While they'd both somehow managed to catch up on all the homework they'd missed, neither of them were looking forward to going back.

In fact, Sansa had a bit of a panic attack at dinner the night before at the very thought of it. It wasn't that she was nervous per se, but more that she didn't want the sympathetic looks, the questions, the condolences. She just wanted to be left alone.

Robb had taken her face in his hands and forced her to look at him while she melted down. "Breathe, Sansa, breathe. Just look at me and breathe, okay?"

She nodded and after a while began to breathe steadily in and out. She wiped furiously at her tears. "Will they ever stop, Robb? Will I ever stop crying?"

"Yes," he told her softly. "You will. But it's okay to cry, Sansa. It's okay to grieve."

She shuddered out a breath and excused herself to change for bed. When she left, Robb looked over at Uncle Edmure who had stuck true to his word to stick around. He frowned at his nephew.

Robb frowned back. "What? Am I coddling her again?" If his uncle only knew how he and Sansa were sleeping in the same bed!

His uncle sighed and shook his head, but said nothing. Instead, he got up, slapped Robb on the back, and said he'd see him tomorrow and left.

Sansa was waiting for him by the time he crawled into bed. "Are you looking forward to going back?" she asked him softly, curled up on her side.

"Yes and no. I think it's going to be hard the first week or so with people wanting to pay their respects, but I think if we can get past all that bullshit, we'll be okay," he said. "It'll be good for us to have a routine and to have something to take our minds off it."

"Every year before the first day of school I would tell Mom I was nervous about it," Sansa murmured. "She'd tell me that whatever it was I imagined happening most likely wasn't going to happen, and that worries were often like that – they never quite came to pass the way we imagined them. Once I asked her what happened if they ended up worse."

Robb smiled. "What did she say?"

"She said that then it could only go up from there. She said if I was having a bad morning to think – it can only go up from here and it would."

"Did it work?"

Her smile was small. "Yes."

"You can have your phone in school, right?"

"Yes, but not on during classes."

"I want you to text me, okay? I want to know how you're doing."

She nodded. "Will you text me, too?"

"Of course. Just don't have the volume turned up because I'll probably text you a lot."

"Okay."

They fell asleep, hands clasped together in between them on the bed.


	5. Four

**One Month Later**

Sansa's phone vibrated in her pocket during lunch, and she smiled to herself as she pulled it out to check Robb's most recent text message.

 _Robb: What do you think we save making tacos for tomorrow night and just order pizza tonight?_

 _Sansa: Are you saying you're tired of cooking?_

 _Robb: I sure am. We've done well lately. I need a break._

 _Sansa: That's fine._

 _Robb: You sure?_

 _Sansa: Yeppers_

 _Robb: I got you a present._

 _Sansa: Oooh, what is it?_

 _Robb: You'll find out later, greedy. How's your day going, sunshine?_

 _Sansa: Meh. Yours?_

 _Robb: It's okay. Are you having lunch with your friends?_

 _Sansa: Yeah_

 _Robb: Are you engaging in conversation with them?_

 _Sansa: No, I'm texting you._

 _Robb: On that note, I will let you go. Love you._

 _Sansa: Love you, too._

Sansa pocketed her phone and sighed. She could have kept talking to her brother instead of listening to her friend chatter on about Homecoming. Sansa could give a flying fuck about Homecoming.

Jeyne looked over at her and smiled. "Robb texting you?"

Sansa nodded. Her best friend tried, she really did. It wasn't Jeyne's fault Sansa didn't feel like doing much except hanging out at home with Robb.

"What are you guys making tonight for dinner?" Jeyne asked.

Sansa smiled. "He doesn't want to make anything tonight. He wants to order in."

"Well, you guys have been going strong with making a new dish almost every night together."

Sansa sighed. "Well, he ordered out a lot when it was just him and I didn't have to think about cooking. This way we get to learn how to cook together."

"I think it's sweet how close you guys are."

"We're all we've got," Sansa said with a shrug.

Jeyne's smile fell and she looked away. Sansa knew she'd made her friend uncomfortable. No one liked to be reminded of what Sansa and Robb had lost. Comments like that just made everyone feel bad and they didn't know what to say. All their "I'm sorrys" had been used up the first couple weeks of their return to the world. In everyone else's mind it was the past. It didn't matter to them that Sansa still sometimes sobbed in the middle of the night and Robb would have to hold her until she fell asleep again. Or that he'd got up and go to the living room to cry and she'd get up and bring him back to bed and return the favor. It irritated her that sometimes he treated her with kid gloves, like he was afraid to cry in front of her and upset her.

People told them they'd have their good days and their bad days. They certainly did at that. There were days Sansa was so angry she snapped at everyone and couldn't bear to have anyone around her. And there were days when Robb went quiet and still. Sansa would sit with him, curl up into his side and offer him silent support.

She considered days in which she just felt a bit numb to be good days. One day she supposed she would feel something other than grief and being angry at the world, but she also feared that. If she started to actually feel happiness that would mean she was letting her family go and Sansa could not bear to do that.

xxxxxxxx

Robb watched Sansa braid a chunk of her hair at the kitchen table later that evening. Their uncle had joined them for dinner and had then returned to his hotel room for a late night conference call.

"Who takes a conference call at eight at night?" Sansa asked.

"Uncle Edmure apparently."

"He's doing something shady."

Robb grinned. "Like what, do you think?"

Sansa finished braiding that chunk and dropped it and then picked up another chunk of hair on her other side and started splitting it into threes. "I don't know. Maybe he's pedaling porn. Or drugs. I don't know."

"His company has investors. He has to meet with them on their terms, and that means he sometimes takes conference calls at night."

"What does he do again?"

"Hell if I know."

Sansa looked at her brother as if to say _'See?'_

"He's told me a billion times, too," Robb said and got up and grabbed their plates. He placed them in the sink and then leaned back against it and just watched her braid. "Why do I find watching you do that so fascinating?"

"Maybe you were a hairdresser in a past life."

He chuckled and made his way over to stand behind her. He picked up some of her hair in his hand and watched it slip through his fingers like silk and fall against the back of her chair. "Your hair is so long," he murmured.

She dropped the braid she'd been working on and dropped her head back to look up at him. "Where's my present?"

He bent down and kissed her forehead. "Hold on. I'll get it."

After grabbing said present from his backpack in the living room where he'd dropped it, he returned to the kitchen. It wasn't much, just a sweatshirt. It was the same gray sweatshirt he had (a Winterfell University sweatshirt with WU in big black letters) – with a hood –that Sansa had taken to stealing and wearing like a uniform practically. He was hoping if he got her one of her own, he'd get his back.

He'd even gotten a gift bag from the bookstore to make it official. He squatted down next to her while she opened it. She laughed when she pulled it out and looked at him. "Are you trying to tell me something, Robb?"

He smiled. "Yeah, give me my sweatshirt back."

"But I like your sweatshirt!"

"You swim in it, Sansa."

"That's what I like about it. It's like a security blanket." She reached out and pinched his cheek. "It's like you're always with me," she cooed.

Robb sighed. "Maybe it could be your back up."

"I do love it, thank you."

"But you'll still be using mine, won't you?"

"Naturally."

He shook his head and stood, but he was smiling. "Did you finish your homework?"

She nodded. "I had study hall last period. That's what I did." She got up and hugged him. "I'm going to get ready for bed."

Robb decided dishes could wait and he made his way into the living room to turn on the TV. Soon, Sansa emerged from the bedroom. The braids were gone and her hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail. She wore tight black pajama bottoms and a tank top. She stretched and yawned and her tank rode up a bit, exposing her belly.

Robb found he couldn't take his eyes off her. He'd always known Sansa was pretty, but for some reason in that moment there was something different about her. She wasn't just pretty. She was beautiful. In that instant he saw her not through the eyes of a brother looking at his sister and thinking – yeah, she's not bad, you know, for someone I'm related to – but as a man would see her.

He wasn't sure what it was; he didn't know what was different about her in this moment than any other, but there was.

It unsettled him.

"How long do you think Uncle Edmure is going to stay?" she asked as she sat in the chair near the couch. She draped her long legs over the side and Robb's gaze was drawn to the patch of skin he could see on her side where her tank rode up.

 _What the fuck?_ he thought. _Am I seriously sitting here ogling my sister?_

"I don't know," he said absently and forced his gaze back to the TV.

"I love him and all, but sometimes I feel like he's just waiting for something to go wrong so he can take me away," she said.

"You're not going anywhere," Robb said firmly and looked back at her.

"Is that something he could fight though? If he wanted to?"

"I suppose he could. But he won't get very far. I'd fight him back."

Her smile was soft and gentle. There was complete trust in her eyes, and considering what he'd just been doing and thinking, Robb felt sick.

He looked away from her and got up. He handed her the remote as he passed by her to his bedroom. "I'm going to study for a while I think," he muttered.

"You okay?"

He nodded, but wouldn't look at her. Something was wrong with him. He went to his room and sat at his desk. His laptop was on already and he just moved the mouse to get it going. He stared blankly at the screen as it powered up and then shut his eyes. _That was just a momentary lapse of…something_ , he told himself. _I was not ogling her, I was just taking note that my sister has grown up. She seems older because she's had to grow up really fast in the past month. That's all it was._

Momentarily mollified, Robb fooled around on his laptop for a while and when he grew bleary-eyed and a bit groggy, he glanced at the clock in the corner of the screen and his eyes widened at how late it had gotten. He and Sansa both had school the next day.

Robb closed his laptop and went out to the living room to tell Sansa they really needed to get some sleep. She was fast asleep on the couch, an old _Friends_ episode playing on the TV.

Robb stood there, watching her sleep and thought maybe he should let her be. She was sleeping already, why move her? He could just cover her up and be done with it. It was probably well past the time for this sleeping together in the same bed thing they did to stop.

Yes, this would be good. They needed to break the habit. It wasn't healthy. If Uncle Edmure ever found out he probably would take Sansa away no matter how innocent it was.

 _There was nothing innocent about you checking out your sister,_ the traitorous voice in his head said. Robb clenched his jaw. Nope. Sansa could stay on the couch. Robb would go to his bed. _Alone._

He pulled the blanket from the back of the couch down and covered her and then went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth. He crawled in bed and lay there on his back, exhausted.

And a little horny.

He thought about rubbing one out. It wasn't like he got much opportunity to masturbate with Sansa in the house. He was confined to the shower in the morning and sometimes in the evening. Sometimes a person just needed some release.

But when he started up a fantasy in his head – he was the boss of some company and he was fucking his secretary, he saw Sansa in his head.

 _Okay, no, that's not happening,_ he thought and rolled onto his side. He was overtired or something. Maybe he needed to hit the gym tomorrow for a while. _Just fucking relax_ , Robb told himself. _Now you're just making it worse by obsessing about it._

He shut his eyes, but he couldn't relax. Something was missing.

Some _one_.

 _You can do this_ , he thought.

After two hours of tossing and turning, Robb finally got up, went to the living room and drew the blanket off Sansa. He then swooped her up in his arms and carried her to bed. She curled into him and Robb felt his body finally relax. He shut the light out and was asleep in no time with Sansa pressed against his side.

* * *

And so it begins...


	6. Five

When Robb rolled over the next morning before his alarm went off, he was greeted with the sight of Sansa on her back, one arm stretched up by her head with her face turned toward him…and side boob.

He zeroed in on that bit of plump, creamy flesh poking out the side of her tank – it wasn't the whole breast, but it was enough – and it was like he couldn't turn away. There was a freckle, too…

 _Jesus Christ_ , he thought and got out of bed as though it was on fire. He shut his alarm off; he'd just wake her after he showered. He was furious with himself as he stormed into the bathroom. He flicked on the shower and fiddled with the dial, and then undressed.

He was hard.

Not uncommon. It was morning and he was a man. He'd always been able to conceal it from Sansa, too. The problem was when he'd seen the side of her breast he had felt himself get harder. And now, just thinking about it, he was getting harder still.

 _When was the last time I got laid_? he thought as he stepped into the shower. He let the water cascade down over him and thought about turning the dial to cold. Expect he really didn't want to take a cold shower. He wrapped his hand around his cock and shut his eyes. Think about Beyonce…Jennifer Lawrence…Sophia Vergara…Mila Kunis…

 _Sansa. Her pretty blue eyes looking up at him while she sucked his cock. Her long legs wrapping around his waist as he drove into her again and again._

Robb came so hard he had put his hand on the wall of the shower to keep from falling over. He gasped and his eyes shut tight. He'd just cum to the thought of fucking his sister. What was _wrong_ with him?

He reached out and turned the dial to cold. He needed to get laid. It had been too long and for some insane reason that he could not comprehend, his mind had latched onto Sansa. Perhaps because she was the only one he could stand to be around? Plus, they shared a bed. As was proven last night, he had a hard time sleeping without her next to him. However, like any bad habit, that needed to stop. Being too dependent on her was playing with his mind.

This was his wake-up call.

After he got out of the shower and dried off, he made sure there wasn't anything lingering in the shower and then he grabbed his robe and made his way out of the bathroom. Sansa was still in bed. She was on her side now and she was awake. She looked up at him and smiled and Robb felt something pierce his heart. There was something so delicate and vulnerable about Sansa, and yet knew she had a core of steel in her. When he needed to break down for all they'd lost, she was his strength, just as he was hers when she was in need. She took care of him so well, it was no wonder the lines were blurring in his head.

"I don't remember coming to bed," she said.

"I carried you."

"Thank you."

"You better shower."

She sighed and nodded and climbed out of bed. Robb looked away from her. He would not look at her breasts, he would not look at her breasts, he would not loot her breasts. . .

"Robb, you okay?" she asked.

"Fine," he grunted.

"You sure."

"Sansa, get in the shower. We need to get going."

"Geez, okay, okay," she muttered. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

Now he felt bad for having snapped at her. It wasn't her fault he was a fucking pervert. He got dressed quickly before she emerged from the shower and headed to the kitchen to put in a couple pop tarts for breakfast.

When she entered the kitchen, hair wet and loose, dressed in jeans and a simple blue v-neck, he smiled apologetically at her. "I'm sorry I snapped at you."

"Are you okay?" She looked worried. "Did you have a bad night and I missed it?"

"No, Sansa, it was fine. It wasn't that."

"Then what's wrong? Did I do something to piss you off?"

He shook his head and opened his arms to her. "Come here."

She walked straight into his arms and he wrapped them around her and pressed a kiss to her temple. "I'm just grouchy this morning. I don't know why."

"I understand," she murmured against his shoulder. "I get that way sometimes, too. Like I just wake up angry because it's not fair and I miss them so much…"

"Let's not go down that road before we have to leave," he said, his voice shaking. His inappropriate thoughts about Sansa coupled with talking about their family? Not a good combination.

She pulled out of his arms and nodded. "Yes, you're right. So, tacos tonight?"

"Yes. I think we have everything for it."

"I'll start cutting up the tomatoes and shredding the lettuce when I get home," she told him.

"Sounds good."

The Pop Tarts popped and Robb got a couple paper towels and wrapped one up for him and one up for her. Sansa hurried off into the other room and then emerged seconds later in his sweatshirt. She smiled sheepishly at him and his heart clenched. _"It's like you're always with me_ , _"_ she'd said last night.

She was always with him, too. He might not carry something of hers with him, but he kept in close contact with her throughout the day, and he thought of her often. He loved his sister fiercely and would do anything for her. That's why it scared him so much to feel this attraction to her. She trusted him to take care of her, to be her guardian and to be her port in the storm and he repaid that by ogling her?

"Ready?" he asked, his voice a bit hoarse.

She nodded and sighed, gathering her strength for another day. "Ready."

xxxxxxxx

When Sansa got to school, she found Jeyne waiting for her at the door. Her friend looked excited and Sansa wondered what was going on. She didn't have long to wait.

"Harry Hardyng is going to ask you to the Homecoming dance!" Jeyne burst out.

Sansa blinked. "What?"

"Harry – you know, Harry. The one you've had a crush on for forever? I heard he's going to ask you to Homecoming!"

Jeyne wasn't wrong. Sansa did have a crush on Harry once upon a time. Before the fire. It felt like a lifetime ago. Things like crushes felt so…stupid. Childish. Unimportant. Dumb high school shit like Homecoming and crushes and rumors seemed so petty and ridiculous now compared to what she was dealing with. It was all Sansa could do just to keep her head above water and thinking about boys was the farthest from her mind. There was only one boy in her life that she cared to associate with and that was her brother.

"You're going to tell him, yes, right?" Jeyne asked.

Sansa sighed and shrugged. "I don't know."

"Sansa, you have been crushing on this guy since freshman year. You _have_ to say yes."

"Well, I don't actually _have_ to…"

Jeyne sighed. "But don't you think it might be, I don't know, good for you? I mean…maybe it would help take your mind off stuff."

Stuff. Stuff being her family dead and gone. "What if I don't want my mind off of it?" Sansa snapped. "It's not like it ever leaves me or ever will."

"They would want you to be happy."

"Don't tell me what they would want."

Jeyne sighed. "Will you at least think about it?"

Sansa sighed and nodded. "Yes."

It wasn't Jeyne's fault; she was trying. She didn't get it though, and she probably never would.

So. Harry wanted to ask her to the Homecoming dance. She wondered what Robb would say about that. Well. She could always ask him. Then the bell rang and Sansa and Jeyne rushed to homeroom. Sansa would text him at lunch.

xxxxxxxx

"Hey, Robb. How are you?" Roslin Frey asked when Robb slid into the desk next to her for his World Politics class.

Robb smiled at her. "I'm good." Not exactly a lie, but not the truth either. Before the fire, Robb had been working up to asking Roslin out. Dating had been the farthest thing from his mind since the fire. Keeping his and Sansa's head above water had been his first priority.

Now, in light of last night and this morning events, he thought perhaps the universe was pushing him in that direction again. "I'm good, thanks," he said. "Um, so I was wondering…are you free this weekend?"

Roslin broke into a wide smile and Robb thought of Sansa's smile, how when it came it was like a gift from the Gods since she rarely smiled these days. "I'm free," Roslin said. "What were you thinking?"

xxxxxxxxxx

When Robb got home later that afternoon, Sansa was busy shredding lettuce. She smiled at him over her shoulder, and his hopes were dashed that whatever he'd been feeling last night and this morning had been fleeting.

"I took everything out to make the tacos," she said.

Robb dumped his books on the table and made his way over to the sink to wash his hands. "How was your day?" he asked her. "You took a while to respond to my texts."

"Jeyne was up my ass today," she muttered.

"About?"

She sighed. "Harry Hardyng wants to ask me to the Homecoming dance apparently. He was supposed to ask me today, but he didn't. So I'm wondering exactly who she heard that from and I don't even know—"

"Wait, wait. Who the fuck is Harry Hardyng?" He shut the faucet off and grabbed a dishtowel to dry his hands and faced Sansa.

"He's this jock I had a crush on before…ya know…We talked a few times and I really liked him, but then I didn't care after…but I guess he's interested. What do you think?"

Robb's jaw was clenched tight. "Tell me more about him," he said.

"He's blond, blue-eyed, pretty built. He's the quarterback of the football team, and pretty popular."

"Is he nice? Is he smart?"

"Yeah, he is nice. And he's no honor student, but he's not dumb."

Robb wasn't impressed by her description alone. He wondered idly if this new… _development_ was making him wary. Or if it was the fact that other people were starting to infiltrate in their bubble. Course, he wasn't one to talk considering he had asked Roslin out that afternoon. Even then he had actually felt guilty, like he had to answer to Sansa before he went out with someone. In a way, he supposed she felt the same way since she was telling him about this Harry guy.

Had they really become so dependent on one another that it was preventing them from moving on? From attempting to live their lives? And causing him to develop this weird attraction to her?

The answer was yes.

"I want to meet him," Robb said slowly. "He needs to know that I will fuck him up if he does anything to hurt you."

"He hasn't even asked me yet, Robb."

"In the event that he does."

"So you're okay with it?"

No, he wasn't. Not really. He sighed. "I asked Roslin out for this weekend."

Sansa paused in dumping the shredded lettuce in a bowl. "Who's Roslin?"

Was it his imagination that she sounded jealous? _Jesus Christ, Robb, yes, it is!_

"She's this girl that I had a bit of a crush on…before…" Jesus. They couldn't even say the words out loud: "Before the fire" or "After the fire" or "When we lost our family in the fire". Were they really ready to push themselves out into the world if they couldn't even say it? Maybe though, being out in the world outside of school would help that. He just didn't like the idea of making this step without Sansa. He missed her already.

"You didn't tell me about her," Sansa said as she dumped the lettuce in the bowl and then faced him. She sounded hurt. "You didn't tell me you were thinking of asking someone out on a date."

He sighed. "I know, I'm sorry, it was…it was a whim." That was a lie. He'd known he was going to ask her out when he'd left that morning. But he couldn't very well tell her he'd only asked Roslin out because he thought they were getting a little too enmeshed.

"Oh. Well, that sounds nice. I'd like to meet her. Make sure she's good enough for my Robb."

"I'll always be your Robb, Sansa. You know that, right?"

She nodded, though she looked worried and doubtful. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her, trying not to focus on the way her breasts pressed against his chest or the scent of her perfume. Instead he focused on the fact that he loved his sister and wanted her to know that he wasn't going anywhere because he needed her. He would always need her.


	7. Six

Robb didn't bring up sleeping arrangements that night. With Sansa telling him about this Harry character, and him asking Roslin out, it just didn't feel like the right time. He felt the need to have her close a bit more acutely than usual. Sure they might be a bit too dependent on one another, but with all they'd went through didn't that make sense? Weren't they allowed?

They would have to take baby steps from here on out. It was a pretty huge step asking Roslin out to begin with, and a big step for Sansa to consider accepting Harry's possible request that she be his date for Homecoming. For the past month and a half, it had been just them. They'd struggled just to keep their head above water and quite frankly, they still were. Now they were throwing themselves back into life and in many ways, Robb didn't feel ready for it. What would Roslin do when something hit him the wrong way and thoughts of his family overwhelmed him to the point that he lost it? What would this fucker Harry do if the same happened to Sansa?

He couldn't stand the thought of someone not being there to support Sansa. He also couldn't stand the thought that he might not be there in the event she needed him most.

Maybe this dating thing was a bad idea. Maybe they just weren't ready yet. Maybe they just needed more time to heal. In a lot of ways it didn't feel as though the healing had even begun.

When Robb crawled into bed that night, Sansa was fiddling with her phone. "Are you texting?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's Jeyne. She said she's sure Harry is going to ask me to Homecoming tomorrow." She finished texting and put the phone on the nightstand and then turned back to him. "I guess he was nervous about asking or some shit like that."

Robb's hands itched to pull her in close to his body, to wrap himself around her and never let her go. He settled for taking her hand and entwining their fingers. He wanted to tell her that she was the most important thing to him in the world and that no matter what happened with Roslin, Sansa would come first. _Always._ He wanted to tell her that she was brave and stronger than she knew, and that he loved her fiercely.

He almost wished he could share with her this attraction he'd started feeling. They shared everything since their family died – for fuck's sake, they even shared a bed! They'd spent nights in this very bed holding each other through tears and nightmares and the weight of carrying on pressing in upon them like a two ton weight. Maybe if he told her it would disappear…

No. She trusted him as her big brother to take care of her. She would be disgusted with him and might even think going to live with Gram and Gramps to be a good idea. Robb couldn't let that happen; he could not and would not let Sansa leave him. He needed her too much.

His heart hammered hard in his chest. He felt an ache there for Sansa that he'd never felt before and it scared him. What was this feeling he was having? What was wrong with him?

"Robb? You okay?"

He wasn't. He looked at her and wanted to kiss her. Wanted to cover her body with his and _claim_ her. She was his. _His._

Robb scrubbed a hand down his face. "I'm just tired. Long day."

She looked at him with worry in her eyes. He squeezed her hand once and then detangled their fingers and rolled over to shut the light out. He settled back into the bed and part of him wished Sansa would curl up into his side while the other part wanted her to stay exactly where she was – away from him.

Sansa sensed the right path to take and stayed away. Robb rolled onto his side, his back to her, and fought back the tears that wanted to fall.

xxxxxxxx

An ache had settled in Sansa's chest since last night. It was a different sort of ache than the one she carried with her since the loss of her family. This was the ache that she was losing Robb, that he was pulling away from her, and that she would soon be left completely alone in the world.

It hurt that he hadn't told her before about Roslin. Now Sansa was left feeling that somehow she wasn't enough for Robb. That was silly, of course. She was his sister. Of course there were things she couldn't give him. But that didn't stop her need to come first and foremost to Robb just as he came first and foremost to her.

What if Robb forgot all about her when he started dating Roslin? What if he found having her around was a nuisance? What if he completely shut her out and wasn't there when she needed him anymore? Then where would she be?

The thought terrified her. She had Aunt Lysa and Uncle Edmure, even Gram and Gramp to an extent, but they weren't Robb. What would she do without him?

Sansa shut her locker and leaned back against it, trying to reign in her rioting emotions. Robb had been quiet this morning. Had losing him already begun?

"Hey, Sansa."

Sansa looked up and found Harry standing before her, his blue eyes averted, his blond hair all mussed as though he'd been running his hands through it. Harry Hardyng was quite handsome – he was one of the most sought after boys in high school after all.

And he looked positively nervous. Sansa found this quite funny actually, considering how confident he often seemed. Confident bordering on downright arrogant and irritating. Yet she'd had a crush on him freshman year. She felt as though she was a whole other Sansa then.

"Hi, Harry," she said, deciding to cut him a break. "How are you?"

"I'm good, thanks. I, uh, was wondering if you had a date to Homecoming."

"I don't," she said.

"Will you…go with me?"

It would be evil to make him sweat it out, wouldn't it? Sansa thought idly as she watched him shift from one foot to the other. It might be evil, but it might also be fun. However, she didn't really want to drag this out

"Yes, I will," she said.

His eyes went wide, his nervousness dissipated, and he beamed at her. "Really?"

"Really."

"Awesome. Could I walk you to homeroom?"

Why the hell not? "Sure."

xxxxxxxx

It was the end of the week, and if the both of them planning on going on dates hadn't been enough of a step, then Sansa had told him that she and Jeyne were going shopping together that Friday night for dresses to wear for Homecoming.

This was the first time Sansa had gone out without him since the fire. She had seemed nervous when it came time for her to pick Jeyne up, and though Robb had wanted her to stay home with him, he knew the best thing for her – and him – was for her to go.

His attraction to Sansa was only growing, much to Robb's dismay.

He'd checked his watch a dozen times in the past couple hours wondering when she'd be coming home. He heard Sansa finally arrive home, and a few seconds later she breezed past the living room doorway and went down to her bedroom, which was really just a spare room at this point. She'd had a garment bag in her hand. Robb got up and made his way down the hall and into her room where she was hanging the bag in the closet.

She turned and jumped when she saw him. "Sonofabitch, Robb, you scared the crap out of me."

He nodded to the dress inside the closet already. "Can I see what you got for a dress?"

She blinked. "You want to see my dress?"

"I want to make sure you're covered."

She rolled her eyes. "Robb, seriously, what do you take me for?"

He raked a hand through his curls. "I trust you; I just don't really trust Jeyne's influence."

"You don't need to worry about Jeyne and her influence. She has none over me."

Robb sat down on her bed. The bed that hadn't been used in quite some time. "How was tonight? Being out with Jeyne?"

Sansa shrugged. "It was ok."

"Just ok?"

She sat down on the bed, facing him. "I just find some things just silly now, ya know? Like gossip and who was there with who…I just don't care. Does it mean I'm growing up or does it mean that after everything that's happened, all that crap just seems so trivial?"

Robb reached out and took her hand in his. "I think a little from column a and a little from column b."

"It was fun to try on dresses and shoes, but then Jeyne wanted to walk around and shop some more and I just wanted to come home." She smiled sheepishly at him. "Did you miss me?"

"Of course I did," he said. "But we survived, right?"

She nodded. "Tomorrow night is your date, right?"

"It is."

He wasn't even all that nervous about it, and quite frankly he didn't really want to go anymore. He knew he had to go though.

"Are you nervous?" she asked.

"No. Are you nervous about Homecoming?"

She shrugged. "Not really. I'm just kind of…"

"Going through the motions?"

"Yeah. I can't close myself off forever, right? And the longer I stay here in this apartment with you…"

"The less either of us will feel compelled to do anything," he finished. Silence fell and they both got lost in their thoughts for a few seconds. "So, when will I meet Harry?" Robb asked finally.

"The night of Homecoming when he picks me up."

"So, I have a week to get a gun that I will need to clean in front of him?"

Sansa laughed and Robb smiled. He loved her laugh; it was good to see it making a return.

"I can't even imagine you with a gun," she said.

"Maybe I could wear overalls and a straw hat and just embarrass you."

"Don't you dare," she said with a laugh. "Will I meet Roslin tomorrow night?"

"No, I'm going to pick her up. If things go well and I see more of her, you will meet her."

Sadness passed over Sansa's face, but before Robb could ask what was wrong she smiled at him and said, "I'm going to get my pj's on. Want to make some popcorn and watch a movie?"

"Sure. I'll get the big bowl from over the sink."

A half hour later, Robb and Sansa were on the couch together, their sides pressed together and the big bowl of popcorn half on her lap and half on his. Ten minutes into the horror movie that Sansa had chosen to watch on Netflix and she was already hiding her face in his shoulder and yet peeking long enough to gauge when it was safe to watch again.

Robb didn't mind. It rather made him feel like a God when she looked to him for protection, even if it was just some dumb horror movie. He liked feeling as though he was her knight in shining armor.


	8. Seven

Sansa invited Jeyne over to keep her company while Robb went out on his date. It was in the afternoon when Sansa started to feel anxious about his date. She didn't want him to go, and it wasn't like she could tell him not to. Instead, she spent most of her time that day working on her homework and reading.

When Jeyne came over, Robb had just emerged from the bedroom, dressed in jeans, a white print shirt and black blazer. "Oh my God," Jeyne whispered to her while Robb put on his shoes in the living room and they hung out in the kitchen, watching him.

"What?" Sansa whispered.

"Your brother is fucking _hot_ , Sansa."

Sansa narrowed her eyes thoughtfully as she watched Robb get up from the chair, adjust his shirt and blazer and then walk into the kitchen where he found her and Jeyne watching him. He stopped abruptly and looked at them. "What is it? Does something not match…?"

"You look great, Robb," Jeyne said with a grin. "Fantastic even. Who's the lucky girl?"

While Robb answered Jeyne, Sansa studied her brother, trying to see him through the eyes of her friend. His curly auburn locks were quite adorable, and quite soft she'd learned. His blue eyes that were so like her own, sparkled when he smiled, and his eyes crinkled at the sides when he did. He had a full mouth and straight teeth and his smile lit up his whole face. Plus, she liked the beard he had. It made him look older and distinguished.

His body…yeah, no, she wasn't going to think about his body. He was her brother for crying out loud. She knew he was strong – she had seen his naked torso before and he was ripped. Her brother was quite handsome.

 _And he's mine_ , she thought. It was what she'd been feeling all along since he told her about Roslin. He was hers and she wanted him to remain hers. Sansa didn't like to share, and she didn't _want_ to share.

But was that really how she should feel about her brother? Was that really what she should be thinking?

"Earth to Sansa."

Sansa blinked and looked at Robb. "What?"

He came over and put his hand on the side of her face. "You okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I was just somewhere else."

Up close his eyes looked an even deeper blue. She forced herself to smile at him, to assure him all was well for she could feel the uncertainty wafting off of him.

"Go. Have fun," she said and pushed at him.

He sighed. "If you need anything—"

"Robb, I'm seventeen not twelve. In three months I'll be eighteen. I can handle you not being home for a while."

"Or for the night," Jeyne joked and Robb looked at her sharply and said, "I will be coming home tonight."

Jeyne cleared her throat and shifted on her feet. "Of course."

Robb kissed Sansa's forehead and Sansa felt butterflies in her belly. Odd, that. "I love you," he whispered to her, and then he left.

"Wow," Roslin said once Robb was gone.

"What?" Sansa asked.

"Just how he nearly bit my head off when I suggested he could stay out for the night. He takes this whole caregiver thing very seriously, doesn't he?"

Sansa frowned as she made her way to the fridge to get the pizza menu off the fridge so she and Jeyne could order a pizza. She pulled the menu off and turned to look at her friend. "He's not just my caregiver, Jeyne. He's my brother."

"Exactly. You'd think he'd be a little more lax. I mean, like you said you are seventeen. He could bunk over this girls place if he wanted to."

"We're still healing," Sansa murmured. She handed the menu over to Jeyne.

"Maybe some sexual healing would help," Jeyne said with a grin.

"Robb isn't going to sleep with her on the first date," Sansa said.

Jeyne arched a brow and looked at her as if to say ' _We'll see about that_ ' before looking down at the menu.

At least Sansa hoped he wouldn't. Robb wasn't some kind of man-whore, though he was a man and that's what most men wanted wasn't it? He'd never been a serial dater, in fact she'd only remembered there being two serious girlfriends while he was in high school. She assumed he'd had sex with them, but she had never given it much thought of course. Why would she?

And now it was all she could think about. Robb having sex with Roslin. Robb's hands on her, Robb kissing her…Robb wanting to spend the night with her and yet feeling obligated to come home. Maybe he was ready to spend time away from Sansa and felt that perhaps she was holding him back. She hadn't made things easy on him when she'd gone through that period of not talking after the fire. She'd seen the worry on his face. No doubt he'd wondered if she was broken and would never recover. She had wondered for a time if she had been – sometimes she thought she was.

Did he share a bed with her and stay close to home with her because he felt like he had to, because he feared she'd fall to pieces again if he didn't?

Sansa didn't want to hold Robb back. If he was ready to thrust himself out into the word full throttle then she was not going to be the one to stop him. She couldn't keep him close by her forever.

"We should invite the boys over," Jeyne said.

Sansa looked at her. "What?"

"We should invite Harry and Willas over for some pizza."

"And if Robb's date goes shitty and he decides to come home early? He'd shoot them and then me for having them over."

"Then let's go out."

They could do that. There was nothing to stop them. Nothing said they had to stay in. "Okay."

xxxxxxxxx

Roslin was a nice girl. She was smart, funny, and easy to talk to. But he felt nothing for her. No spark. No heat. He felt like the worst sort of person for thinking about how hot it had made him that morning when the strap to Sansa's tank top had dropped off her shoulder while she'd been doing the dishes. Robb's gaze had been drawn to said shoulder and he'd wanted to put his mouth there.

He'd had to walk away from her before it became obvious what his reaction to that had been.

And now, here he was, out with this girl that clearly liked him and was definitely showing some cleavage and all Robb could think about was how he wanted to go to the bathroom and call Sansa.

She hadn't been acting right all day; she'd barely spoken to him. Then when he'd left, she had looked worried. He wanted to know what she was worried about.

"What's it like taking care of your sister?" Roslin asked and picked up her wine glass to take a sip. She set the glass down when she was done. "Do you guys argue?"

"Not really, no. I mean, we might have little spats here and there over who is going to do the dishes, or who left towels on the bathroom floor, but that's it."

Roslin laughed. "That's what married couples argue about."

Robb laughed nervously. He wondered what Roslin would say if she knew that he and Sansa shared a bed, too.

Just like a married couple.

xxxxxxxxx

Harry wasn't the brightest bulb on the tree, but he was nice. When he wasn't putting on a macho man show for them, he was actually pretty easy to talk to.

Sansa remembered a conversation she had with her mother once about the three year age difference between Catelyn and Ned. Her mother had said that the nice thing about being a little bit older was that she'd been able to train Ned. She'd meant it jokingly of course, but Sansa watched Harry as he aimed to please her and she felt the thrill of having a bit of power over someone.

"Hey, do you girls scare easy?" Willas asked as he sat back in the booth of the pizza parlor.

Sansa picked a piece of pepperoni off the pizza on her plate and said, "Not really. Why?"

"There's this abandoned mental hospital the next town over," Willas said. "People say it's haunted."

"Of course they do," Jeyne said with a roll of her eyes. "Let me guess – you want to go check it out?"

Willas shrugged. "Why not? Harry and I were talking about it before you guys called."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea," Jeyne said. "It sounds a bit dangerous. What if there's a bunch of creepers squatting there or something?"

"I'll protect you," Willas said with a sly grin.

Harry looked at Sansa. "What do you think, Sansa?"

Sansa was with Jeyne in that it sounded dangerous. Yet there was something strangely appealing about the idea of doing something dangerous. It made her blood quicken just thinking about going into a place like that. It was better than feeling numb all the time.

"Let's do it," she said.

xxxxxxxx

Robb got home later than he'd wanted to. After dinner, Roslin had suggested a movie and Robb didn't want to be the loser that said no, he had to get home to his sister who was – as Sansa had pointed out – seventeen and able to take care of herself.

That wasn't the point.

He _liked_ being with Sansa.

Probably a little too much.

And that was what had caused him to agree to a movie.

When he returned home, feeling as though he couldn't get in the apartment fast enough, he kicked off his shoes at the door and padded down to the bedroom. Sansa wasn't there. He frowned and glanced in the living room. She wasn't there either.

Where was she?

He heard a bed creek and he looked down the hall to her bedroom. Why would she be in there? He walked down the hall to her bedroom and sure enough, there she was, curled up on the bed. Robb stared at her in the bed, his mind swirling. What was she doing in here? Was she done sharing a bed? Had she been wanting to sleep in her own bed and hadn't known how to tell him?

He didn't want this. He couldn't sleep without her next to him.

 _You want to do more than just sleep, too_ , the voice in his head reminded him. _How long before your baser urges cause you to do something in your sleep you might regret?_

With his heart in his throat, Robb walked over to the bed and sat down. He reached out and gently pushed some hair from her face. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at him. "Robb?"

"Who else were you expecting?" he asked with a grin.

She grunted as she rolled over onto her back. "How was your date?" she asked through a yawn.

"It was fine. Did you and Jeyne have a good time?"

She nodded. "Are you going to see her again?"

Robb sighed. "I don't know." He looked away and his eyes fell on a sign that said "Outpatient Care". He pointed at it. "Where did that come from?" When he looked back at Sansa, he found her looking a bit guilty. "Sansa?"

"Can I tell you in the morning? I really want to get back to sleep."

 _Not with me though_? he thought. "Sure." He got up and then leaned over and kissed her forehead. "I love you."

"Mmm, love you too," she murmured and then shut her eyes.

Robb stood there, watching her sleep for a while and then shuffled to his room wondering how long it was going to take him to fall asleep without Sansa in their – _his_ – bed.

* * *

This chapter had EXACTLY 2000 words. I was going to write more until I checked word count. It was too perfect to pass up.


	9. Eight

Robb had slept terrible. He'd tossed and turned for a good three hours and had almost either carried Sansa to his bed, or joined her in hers. He talked himself out of it the hundred or so times he'd considered it. It would take some time to get used to Sansa not being in bed with him, but he could manage it. He had to.

He had been sitting at the kitchen table for a good hour in the morning working on homework on his laptop and sipping coffee when Sansa finally emerged. She looked as though she hadn't gotten much sleep either. There were dark circles under her eyes and her eyes were half-mass. She yawned when he said "Good morning".

Then she poured coffee and sat down at the table across from him. She folded her arms on the table, leaned over, and buried her face in her arms. Robb watched her in amusement. "Tired still?"

She nodded without lifting her head.

It was on the tip of his tongue to remark that maybe she should have come to bed with him then, but he wasn't sure if this was something they were supposed to talk about or if it was something they were supposed to ignore.

"So," he began, "Want to tell me about that 'Outpatient Care' sign in your room?"

She sighed and lifted her head so that her chin rested on her arms as she looked at him. Her hair was a tangled mess and Robb just wanted to run his fingers through it. "Jeyne and I didn't stay in last night," she said.

"So I gathered. Where did you go?"

She sat back in the chair now. "We went out with Harry and Willas. Willas is the guy Jeyne is sort of seeing. We met them at the pizza place downtown."

Robb forced himself to remain calm. "A heads up that you were going out would have been nice."

"But you were already out. What does it matter if I went out with a few friends?"

"I'd just like to know that you're up to. What time did you come home?"

She looked at him in annoyance. "Before you."

He sighed. "Sansa, I'm not telling you that you can't do things. But you are still under my care and while you are I do reserve the right to know what you're doing."

"I went to an abandoned mental institution with them," she said.

He stared at her; blinked. "What?"

"Harry told us about this mental institution that was abandoned in the next town over and asked if we wanted to go. I said yes."

Robb shut his laptop and looked at her, flabbergasted. _"Why?_ "

She shrugged. "Why not? It sounded like fun."

"Sansa, do you know how dangerous that could have been? What if there were a bunch of sketchy people there and saw a bunch of teenagers as an opportunity? What if the building was unstable and you fell through a floor or some debris fell on you? Abandoned buildings like that are not the safest places to be roaming about in, and especially in the dark!"

He pushed away from the table and started to pace.

"I'm fine, Robb. Nothing happened."

"What did you use for light?"

"Harry and Willas had flashlights."

"Oh, well, that makes me feel better! Jesus Christ, Sansa, what were you thinking?"

"Like you've never done something like that? I recall an instance in high school when you and your friends decided to go check out some creepy as fuck abandoned house on Winter Street—"

"And we were fucking stupid for doing it. Theon stepped on a rusty nail and we had to go to the emergency room. Do you remember that part?"

Sansa folded her arms across her chest and looked away, her chin lifted stubbornly. "Fine. Got it. No going to abandoned structures. Duly noted."

Robb raked a hand through his hair and then came over to her. He squatted beside her chair. "Sansa, look at me." She did, but she didn't look happy about it. He wanted to shake her. Couldn't she see that he was upset because he worried about her? "I'm not trying to be Mom and Dad. I don't want this to be a situation where I tell you what to do like you're a child. You reminded me last night that you're seventeen and not a child. I am just asking that you don't act like one – a child, that is. You're going to shave years off my life doing shit like that."

"Robb, calm down," she said softly and turned in the chair to face him. "I won't do that again."

In his mind's eye, Robb saw himself taking her face in his hands and kissing her. In reality, he started to lean in. He pushed himself to his feet before he did something stupid like actually kiss her. What the fuck was _wrong_ with him? What was he _thinking_? What was he _doing_?

"Thank you," he said curtly and stormed out of the kitchen to get himself together.

xxxxxxx

Over the next week, Robb kept his distance from Sansa. She didn't like it. She wasn't sure if he was punishing her for going to that abandoned mental institution or if he was consumed with Roslin – they ended up having another date after all when Roslin called to ask him out to lunch on Sunday afternoon, and they'd gone out again in the middle of the week. However, she swore he crawled into bed with her Sunday night and slept with her for a while. Half of her wondered if she'd dreamt it because the next morning he was in his own bed.

So, Sansa decided if he was going to ignore her then she would ignore him right back. Childish, to be sure, but it hurt her that he didn't seem to want to have anything to do with her. Plus, Roslin. This whole thing with Roslin was bugging the ever loving fuck out of her. She hadn't met this girl, but she already didn't like her. It was someone taking Robb away from her and Sansa hated it.

Uncle Edmure thought it was fantastic. "The both of you are dating and getting out of that apartment and away from each other," he'd said when Robb had told him over dinner one night that he and Sansa were dating. "It's what you both need. It will help you move on and heal."

Sansa wasn't sure how dating translated into helping since the one time she brought up Arya, Harry ignored her. She would have preferred an awkward "I'm sorry" over being blatantly ignored when she mentioned her dead sister.

Then, on the night of Homecoming, Robb invited Roslin over as Sansa was getting ready. For some reason, it really pissed Sansa off. It pissed her off even more when she met Roslin and Roslin wasn't the troll as Sansa had painted her to be in her head.

She was nice. Sweet, even. If not a little plain in the looks department – limp brown hair and brown eyes, just plain features that were nothing at all remarkable.

When Sansa emerged from the bedroom in her shimmering purple strapless dress that fell to just above her knee and matching purple shoes, Roslin fussed over her and made sure to take pictures on Robb's phone. Then she made Robb stand with her so she could take pictures of them together. Robb stood beside her stiffly; he wouldn't even look at her.

He was on full attention when Harry showed up however. He shook Harry's hand and when he saw Harry wince, Sansa knew Robb was probably squeezing the crap out Harry's poor hand. When they were leaving, Robb clapped Harry on the back a little harder than necessary and Sansa heard the words "sister" and "kill you" muttered.

"So, your brother is terrifying, huh?" Harry said nervously later when they were in the car on the way to the dance.

Sansa rolled her eyes. "He's really not."

Harry didn't look convinced.

Homecoming was nice enough – as nice as a school dance in a gymnasium could be. Harry tried so hard to make it special for her, too. He doted on her as though she was a princess and Sansa tried her best to put Robb out of her mind, but all she could think was how he was probably having sex with Roslin at that very moment.

Why was this bothering her so much? Why was this such a problem for her? Roslin was _nice_ , so why did she _hate_ her?

In obsessing over what Robb was probably doing, she was missing out on the fun she could be having with Harry. She pulled him out onto the dance floor towards the end of the dance and smiled up at him. "Have I told you tonight how handsome you look in your suit?" she asked.

He did look quite handsome in a grey suit that was more silver, and a purple tie that matched her dress. She didn't know why she couldn't muster up those same feelings she used to have for him. It couldn't all be because she'd lost her family and had so much upheaval could it?

Harry had proven himself so very kind and sweet. The whole week he had texted her, walked her to classes, and ate lunch with her. He didn't grope her when they kissed either. He was always respectful. So then what the hell was her problem?

"You didn't, but thank you," he said and he looked proud as he looked down at her. "And you are look beautiful tonight, Sansa. But then you always do."

She smiled up at him. "Hey, do you want to get out of here?"

"Where do you want to go?"

She grinned. "What about Friendly's? Let's get a sundae."

He smiled. "All right. Let's go."

A half hour later, Harry and Sansa sat together in a booth, huddled on one side with Harry's arm around her, his letter jacket around her shoulders. He nuzzled the side of her face and she giggled as she fed him and herself a hot fudge sundae.

"What do you like to do for fun, Harry?" she asked.

"I like this," he murmured and kissed her cheek.

She smiled. "No, but seriously. The mental institution we visited last week. Is that the kind of thing you like to do? Do you like to be scared?"

He nodded. "I do. I'm kind of an adrenaline junkie."

She turned slightly so she could look at him. "Adrenaline junkie. Does that mean you like extreme sports or something?"

"Well, I haven't really been able to pursue that too much but I have been sky diving and bungee jumping. I also like to race."

"Race?"

"You know Mountain Road?"

"That road where a bunch of seniors crashed when we started our freshman year?"

Harry nodded. "It's this wide open road and there aren't a lot of houses on it. It's perfect for racing."

Sansa arched a brow. "And dying?"

"Not if you're careful. The reason those kids died was because they'd been drinking, too. I don't drink and drive."

She smiled flirtatiously. "Aren't you a boy scout?"

He grinned. "I can be."

"So what is it about that, that gets you excited?"

"When you're going fast like that – or when you're bungee jumping or sky diving – your mind is on nothing else but what you're doing. Your senses are so sharp and you're more present and in the moment than you've ever been. Plus, there's this fear element. The element that you _could_ die."

"A little bit like visiting the mental institution. I wasn't thinking about anything else but where I was stepping and what was around me."

"Exactly."

Sansa bit her lip as she thought about that night in the mental institution. How alive she had felt. She had been attuned to every sound in that place. Her whole being had been poised to either fight or flee. She liked that feeling. She didn't think about Robb, about Roslin, about her parents, her siblings, she thought of nothing but that very moment.

She could use that feeling again.

She looked up at Harry. "Could you take me racing?"

His eyes widened. "You want to try it?"

"Yes."

"Sansa…are you sure?"

She nodded adamantly. "Definitely."

Harry broke into a wide smile. "All right then. Let's do it."

* * *

So, I hate to be that author that begs for comments...but I'm gonna be that author for a second here. I kind of feel like maybe I am writing for 1-2 people and it's a bit discouraging when I really put a lot of effort into each chapter. It makes me feel like maybe I don't need to update as often if no one really cares (?)


	10. Nine

Harry had a whole ritual before going racing. It wasn't a big deal, really. All it consisted of was him pounding down a can of Monster Mountain Dew from the local Seven Eleven. He then took off his suit jacket and unbuttoned a few buttons on his dress shirt. He lamented he didn't have his lucky t-shirt on, which caused Sansa to wonder what his lucky t-shirt looked like and did he just use it for racing or for other things?

Then he took them to the road that connected to Mountain and he began.

When Harry's car began to accelerate steadily, Sansa wrapped her hand around the 'oh shit' handle at the top near her window. She gripped it until her hand ached. She dug her nails into the side of her seat and it was as if her heart went up to her throat. She started to breathe heavy and every muscle in her body tensed. She barely saw the trees, and the lights from the few houses that lined the street. Her gaze was focused straight ahead and all she could think was 'I could die'.

Her breath caught the moment it felt as though they were flying and she thought for sure Harry's car was going to spin off the road. Harry let out a shout of victory, but Sansa couldn't breathe. Not until she felt the car start to slow.

 _I am safe now_ , she thought. But she didn't really believe it until the car was moving at a crawl and Harry pulled over to the side of the road.

He put the car in park and looked over at her. "Well?"

Sansa looked at him as she breathed heavily, her heart began to slow but just gradually. She shook slightly.

"Sansa?" Harry looked worried.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she said hurriedly, and then laughed nervously. She wasn't dead. She even welcomed the tremble that rocked through her entire body. "So, um, when can we go bungee jumping?" she asked shakily.

Harry broke into a wide smile. "As soon as I get you a fake ID."

xxxxxxxxx

Harry kissed Sansa with more enthusiasm than ever when he dropped her off at home. Sansa figured he was probably thrilled to have another partner-in-crime outside of Willas.

He offered to walk her up to Robb's apartment, but Sansa told him no and the look of relief on his face made her laugh.

She was still pondering the race down Mountain Road as she let herself inside.

Robb was sitting at the kitchen table, laptop in front of him, and already dressed for bed in sweatpants and a t-shirt. "How'd it go?" he asked as he looked up at her.

"Good," she said.

"Care to elaborate?"

"Not really," Sansa said as she sailed past him, heading for her bedroom.

She heard the scrape of the chair against the tile and knew he was following her. She quickened her steps and had almost made it when he grabbed her arm and forced her to look at him.

"Sansa, I want to know how the dance went." He looked upset with her and it made her angry.

"You haven't wanted to talk to me all week," she snapped. "And now you expect me to just open up to you?"

He let go of her and raked his hand through his hair. "I'm sorry—"

"I don't care," she said, cutting him off. "I want to change and I want to go to bed. Good night, Robb."

"Can you tell me if he was a gentleman at least?"

Sansa ignored him and went into her bedroom. She shut the door and pressed her back against it. She heard Robb shuffle down the hall and she felt guilty for being so short with him. But he had ignored her all week and it hurt!

She clenched her jaw tight, refusing to cry or to go down to talk him. Instead she changed into her pj's and then slipped into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth.

She had just finished drying her face and went to grab the toner in the medicine cabinet when she hit the bag of cotton balls and sent them sailing to the trash barrel. She grabbed them and happened to look in the trash and saw it.

A condom wrapper. Opened.

She straightened and stared blankly inside the medicine cabinet.

So. Robb and Roslin had sex that night after all.

Tears stung her eyes and again she had to wonder why this mattered so goddamn _much_ to her. Skipping the toner, she brushed her teeth quickly, and went down to her bed. Robb called out to her from the living room but she ignored him again and nearly slammed her door shut. She locked it again and sat down on her bed, angry that Robb had slept with Roslin and frustrated because she didn't know why it mattered.

Before she finally fell asleep though, she did know one thing for certain: she and Harry were going to have sex.

xxxxx

 _The sound of the smoke detector woke Sansa with a jolt. In the next second she coughed as smoke surrounded her, choking her, and making it hard to breathe._

Fire! _her mind screamed._ I've got to get everyone out!

 _She attempted to push off her covers, but they were twisted around her legs and she had to unravel them. How many covers did she sleep with? Why wouldn't they budge?!_

 _Finally, she managed to get them off and she fell when she attempted to stand up. She looked up and the door was so far away she could barely make it out._

 _"_ _Sansa! Help! Sansa!" Arya. Arya was screaming for her. She sounded so anguished, so much in pain. Sansa managed to get to her feet and she broke into a run to the door._

 _"_ _Sansa! It hurts!" Her father._

 _"_ _Help me!" Bran._

 _A blood curling scream that sounded like one of Rickon's blood curling screams._

 _"_ _Sansa, we can't breathe!" Her mother._

 _Sansa tried to shout to them, to let them know that she was coming but no sound came out._

 _Finally she made it to the door. She kept trying to open the door, pulling and pulling and pulling on it while sweat poured down her face and the smoke curled and billowed around her. Her family screamed again and again for her._

 _When she managed to get the door open she found Robb standing a distance away. She opened her mouth to scream to him, but no sound came out. She tried to run only to find her feet were trapped in mud and she couldn't move. No matter how hard she tried to run to him, she couldn't. No matter how hard she tried to scream, nothing came out._

 _Tears ran down her face, smoke filled her lungs. The screams of her mother, father, Arya, Bran, and Rickon filled her ears._

 _She felt the fire at her back. Soon, she would burn._

 _She watched, helpless, as Roslin came up to Robb and wrapped her arms around him. They kissed and Robb walked away, never even glancing her way while Sansa's attempts to cry out were drowned out by that of her family._

"Robb! Robb!"

The sound of Sansa screaming woke Robb up. He sat up and scrambled out of the bed.

"Help! Help me! Robb!"

Robb barreled down the hall, nearly knocking into the wall as he burst into Sansa's room. He flicked the light out and found her sitting up in bed, clawing at her covers. Tears streamed down her face.

He ran over to her and sat down facing her. He gripped her arms. "Sansa!"

"We're burning! You have to help us!" she screamed. "Don't leave!"

"Sansa!" Robb shouted and shook her. "You're having a dream! Come back to me, sweetheart, come back to me."

Her screams stopped and she sobbed, sounding almost as though she was choking. "I can't breathe," she gasped. "I can't breathe."

Robb took her face in his hands and brought her face close to his. "Sansa, look at me. Sansa!"

Her eyes focused on him and she gasped. "Robb."

"Sweetheart, breathe, honey. Breathe for me. In and out, okay? I'm here. I'm here."

"You—you won't leave—leave m-me?"

"Never, Sansa, never. I'll never leave you. I love you. Focus on me, sweetheart, focus on me, okay? You had a dream. It was just a dream."

"No it wasn't," she sobbed. "They're dead. They're all dead."

Robb wrapped his arms around her and pulled her onto his lap. He held her tight as she sobbed into his shoulder. He rocked her, stroked her hair, and murmured to her that he loved her, that he would never leave her, and that he needed her always. And he cried along with her.

When she finally quieted, and only hiccups caused little tremors to course through her, Robb moved her onto the bed. She clutched at him, tears in her eyes. "Don't go."

"I won't," he said as he crawled into the bed beside her. She burrowed into him, still sniffling.

After a long while she began to speak. "I dreamt I woke up and the house was burning," she murmured. "I was home in my bed. There was so much smoke and I heard them all screaming for me to help them. I couldn't get out of the bed. I couldn't _move_. Then I managed to get off all the covers and I fell on the floor and the door was so far away. I ran and I ran and they were screaming for me to help them." She started to cry again, her grip on him grew tighter.

"Ssshh….Sshhh…" Tears coursed down Robb's face as he held her and stroked her hair.

"I made it to the door and I couldn't open it. I tried and I tried and I couldn't. And then I did and you were standing there, but you didn't see me. I kept trying to call to you and you couldn't hear me. No sound was coming out of me and all I could hear was Mom and Dad and Arya and Bran and Rickon screaming for help. Roslin came up to you and kissed you and you walked away…I screamed for you and you kept going…and then I started to burn."

"Stop," Robb ground out. "Just stop." He leaned back and looked at her, her blue eyes full of tears. His eyes were wet, too. "I will _never_ leave you. I will _never_ abandon you. You are my entire world, Sansa. Do you understand that? I _need_ you. I will _always_ need you."

She nodded and he pressed a kiss to her forehead; he let his lips linger there longer than needed. "I love you, Sansa," he said hoarsely, and realized that he just might mean that on another level.

* * *

Thank you so much to the people that left comments yesterday! It was wonderful to hear from you. Please keep 'em coming!


	11. Ten

Robb held Sansa close to him in bed. Her back was to his front and his lips were at her neck, her hair in a ponytail and draped over the pillow. One hand rest flat on her stomach, keeping her in place. She was asleep, but Robb was finding it hard to join her in slumber. Not after he'd seen her so terrified from her dream. Not after she'd called out to him with such desperation and fear - as if he'd leave her. As if she thought he would _ever_ leave her.

"Never want to leave this spot," he murmured against her skin. "Never want to be parted from you."

An ache settled in his chest and he shut his eyes tight. He was afraid he was in love with his sister.

All week he'd tried so hard to fight his growing feelings. He'd gone out with Roslin, chatted with her over text, buried himself in schoolwork, and tonight he'd slept with her.

All the while he had thought about Sansa. About how Sansa's skin would feel under his hands, how her breasts would feel in his palms, and how she might tremble with pleasure as he ghosted his lips all over her body.

He couldn't think about this now. He would get hard and that's not what Sansa needed. He couldn't even imagine what she'd say if she knew...

If her dream was anything to go by, Sansa was afraid of losing him. He should have known Sansa would be sensitive to the fact that he'd been avoiding her. How could she not be after how close they'd gotten...God, he could laugh at that. Close? Was that the word to describe this? More like sick. He was sick. What kind of brother fell in love with his sister? What kind of brother wanted to _make love_ to his sister? He was failing her; he _had_ failed her.

If he was a good brother he would send her away to be with Gram and Gramp for both their sake. But he couldn't. He needed her too much, and after tonight when she screamed for him and clung to him - she needed him too. He had to put his feelings aside and focus on what she needed. They were still healing, and if Sansa's dream was any indication, she was afraid to lose him.

She let out a whimper in her sleep and Robb pressed his lips to her neck, willing her to feel his presence even in her sleep. She shifted in her sleep and Robb loosened his grip on her. Sansa turned and faced him, her eyes tired in the dim light of the moon streaming in the window behind him. She looked at him, her eyes sad. He was about to ask her if she'd had another dream when she kissed him.

It took Robb a few seconds to catch up to what was happening. Sansa was kissing him. This was happening. Did this mean she felt something, too? He had just started to respond when she broke the kiss and started to cry. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't know why I did that. I…don't know…"

"Sansa, it's okay—"

"No, it's really not. You're my brother and I just…" She rolled over, turning her back on him and inching to the edge of the bed, about as far away from him as she could get. "Maybe you should go to your own bed. I'm clearly not thinking straight."

If he reached out to her what would she think? Would she be disgusted with him if he took her in his arms and kissed her? What would she say if he told her he _wanted_ to kiss her? She was clearly disgusted with herself for kissing him, so that didn't bode well for him. And she was emotional. Her nightmare earlier, the possibility of another bad dream haunting her when she'd woken up…

"I don't want to leave you," he said honestly. She didn't move. "I…get it."

"How?" She sounded incredulous.

"You had a bad dream. You think you're going to lose me. But you're not. Sansa, I'm not going anywhere." He inched closer to her and put his hand on her hip. "Come on, Sansa…" She shook her head. He moved until he was against her back. He kissed her shoulder and she stiffened. "We've been through a lot," he murmured. "We've dealt with a lot. We're grieving and we're the only ones that get it. It's okay, Sansa."

He heard the words he spoke, heard the logic in them – they were the same words he had said to himself over and over again every time he felt the urge to touch her, or he couldn't stop looking at her. It was their situation. They had only each other now. They relied on each other. They supported each other. Yet despite what he felt, Sansa was upset by what she'd done and didn't need him making it worse. A brother did not pursue a sister. A brother did not lust for nor fall in love with his sister.

He felt her body begin to relax by degrees. She sighed heavily. "It would still probably be best if you went to your bed," she said.

He knew what he should say to that – _yes, you're right. I should_. But the words wouldn't come and neither would the action. "No," he said. "You need me right now, and honestly, I need you too."

"You don't need me, Robb. You've always been the stronger one. I'm just a hot mess."

"I do need you," he said fiercely. "Do you ever listen to me when I talk?"

Silence.

"Sansa—"

"I just want to sleep now, Robb."

He sighed. "Ok. But I'm staying."

"Okay," she whispered softly.

xxxxxxxxx

When Sansa woke up the next morning, she was still tired. And mortified. Being mortified by kissing Robb made her cranky.

She climbed out of bed without even looking at Robb and headed to the shower. Once she was dressed she texted Jeyne to find out what her friend was up to. She could hear Robb poking around in the kitchen, and could smell bacon and coffee wafting to her bedroom.

She didn't plan to leave her room until she absolutely had to. Not even coffee and bacon could make her go down to the kitchen. Instead, she sat on her bed and tossed her from back and forth between her hands, waiting for Jeyne to reply to her.

And then she heard Robb coming down the hallway and she froze and stared at her closed door.

He knocked twice. "Sansa, can I come in?"

"No."

After a beat he asked, "Are you going to eat breakfast?"

"I'm not hungry."

"Sansa, come on. You can't avoid me forever."

No, she couldn't. But she also thought perhaps she could test that theory.

"There is nothing wrong with you," he said. "I get why you did it. I understand."

How could he when she didn't understand it? Unless…had he felt a similar urge? She almost laughed at the very thought. No. She doubted that. He was just trying to make her feel better.

She had been having a dream in which she and Roslin were fighting over Robb. She couldn't even remember all that they had been saying, but she remembered trying to pull Robb away from Roslin. At one point she'd screamed at the other woman, "Robb is mine!"

She'd woken up needing to see him, feel him, stake her fucking _claim_ on him, and when she'd seen him she'd just wanted to…to kiss him. Whatever residual feelings she'd been having in the dream had manifested itself in real life.

What did it mean that kissing him had been her reaction? Of all the things to do that's what she'd landed on? Did that mean she was jealous of Roslin on a whole other level?

"Sansa."

"I can't right now, Robb. Please don't make me."

"So, how do you want to work this? Do you want me to leave the kitchen and hide in my bedroom while you put a plate together? Or should I leave a tray at your door?"

Sansa smiled despite her rioting emotions. Bless him trying to make light of this, for trying to make her feel that her reaction to the kiss was what was ridiculous and not the kiss itself.

Her phone dinged. Jeyne had texted back. _Wanna get some breakfast?_

"I'm going out to breakfast with Jeyne," Sansa called out to her brother.

It took him a little while to respond. "Fine."

She heard him walk away and she wrote Jeyne back, saying she'd pick her up. She grabbed her purse and barreled down the hall. When she passed Robb in the kitchen, her breath caught due to nerves and when he reached out and grabbed her arm before she could go any further, she froze. She would not look at him, however.

"When will you be home?" he asked softly.

"I don't know."

"Please don't be too late. What was your curfew with Mom and Dad?"

"Ten."

"I want you home by ten then."

"Okay."

He let her go, and Sansa practically ran to her car in her haste to get away from Robb. Too bad she couldn't run from the feelings all tangled up inside of her.

xxxxxxxx

Jeyne didn't last long with Sansa before feeling the need to involve the boys. It was noon when Harry and Willas joined them downtown. Harry informed Sansa that he'd already started work on her fake ID using her yearbook picture from last year. Sansa didn't know what it all entailed to make a fake ID, but it all sounded good to her.

The four of them went back to Jeyne's – her parents were gone for the day – and they all settled in to "watch" a movie. Jeyne poured them all drinks from her mother's well-stocked supply in her liquor cabinet. Sansa thought the whole thing was actually pretty lame, but the part of her that wanted to be a normal teenager doing normal teenager things that didn't involve feeling as though she had a hole in her heart the size of Texas due to the loss of her family, and didn't do things like _kiss her brother_ , went with it.

Jeyne and Willas left the room not even fifteen minutes into the movie to have sex.

Harry tugged on his ear and looked at her sheepishly. "So…"

"When can we go racing again?" she asked.

He grinned. "You really liked that, huh?"

"I did."

"It's better when it's dark…and late. Less chance to get caught, plus I think it makes it ups the whole danger aspect."

"Well, I guess the only thing left to do is make out," she said with a sigh.

He barked out a laugh. "You don't have to make it sound so terrible."

She smiled flirtatiously. "It's not." She bit her lip and coyly traced his lips with her fingers. Robb's lips had been soft and yet – and yet she was not going to think about that right now. She reached over and knocked back the rest of her drink. It burned all the way down, and for some reason that brought her comfort.

Last night's dream and then kissing Robb…she felt there was something dark twisting inside her. The guilt she carried with her for surviving the fire. The feelings for Robb she didn't understand. There was something… _more_ there. Something that made her feel so incredibly possessive of Robb and feeling… _jealous_.

Harry cupped the back of her head once she'd put her glass down and kissed her heatedly. With the alcohol running through her, Sansa didn't hate it. She wondered what else she and Harry could do that she wouldn't hate.

* * *

Will she or won't she...


	12. Eleven

"Are you okay?"

Sansa looked over at Harry as she pulled on her jeans. "I'm fine," she said. "Get rid of the condom, would you?" _You look ridiculous laying there with it still on,_ she thought with disgust.

Harry got up, grabbed his boxers off the floor, and then scurried off to the bathroom down the hall. Sansa finished dressing.

"It didn't hurt too much, did it?" Harry asked when he came back.

Sansa really didn't want to have the post-sex post-mortem. They'd done it, it was over with, and she felt…nothing. Maybe a little dirty. And, strangely, annoyed. Plus, she was hungry and had a headache now.

Doing it hadn't done what she'd thought it would do. Plus, she hadn't orgasmed. Not that she really expected to with her first time, but even when Harry fingered her, he had stopped long before she even felt turned on.

Harry on the other hand had apparently had a grand ol' time. He'd almost blown his load when she'd gone down on him. And he hadn't lasted very long inside her before he came.

Teenage boys. Jesus.

Now she wanted to do something else. There was a feeling she was chasing and it was the one she had felt when they'd raced. She finished dressing and gazed out the living room window, hands on her hips. "When do you think it'll be dark enough to go race?" she asked.

"Probably in a few more hours," Harry said. "Are you sure you're okay?"

She could hear the rustle of him dressing behind her and for some reason that annoyed her more. She wanted very much for him to just shut up, to not move, to not do anything. Couldn't she just have some silence?

He put his hand on her shoulder and Sansa made a face. _Get off me, Harry,_ she thought.

"Sansa—"

"I'm fine, Harry," she said and turned just so, so that his hand fell from her shoulder. "I am hungry though. Maybe we could get Chinese food or something?"

"Do you want to see if the lovebirds upstairs want to join us?" he asked.

No, she really didn't. She wanted to be away from Harry, from Jeyne, from stupid Willas. She didn't like them. Any of them. Not anymore. This separate feeling she'd been having since the fire had only increased, but now she felt as though an entire continent was between them. How banal was it to sit around and drink and have sex while Jeyne's parents were out. These idiots knew nothing. They certainly didn't know what real pain was. They didn't know what truly feeling numb felt like. They didn't know guilt that could choke you. They knew nothing at all. _I hate them,_ she thought. _I really hate them._

The only thing she wanted to do was race and have that feeling of fear back... that feeling that she could die. She wanted that back. So, she was going to have to suck this up for a while. "Sure."

Harry looked at her. He looked worried. And uncertain. Sansa wondered if it was wrong to take pleasure in that. She liked him feeling unsettled. It made her feel powerful. What was the saying? If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy? That's how she felt. Her skin felt too tight, her life felt too constricting…she wanted to fly off and be free of the pain that wouldn't go away, the disgusting fake assholes she called friends, these feelings for Robb she didn't understand…She felt as though she was suffocating.

The lovebirds in question came giggling down the stairs. Sansa turned away so they wouldn't see her roll her eyes.

 _I hate everyone and everything_ , she thought and folded her arms across her chest.

She thought of Robb and some part of her softened, and her eyes welled up in tears.

"It smells like sex down here," Jeyne said teasingly.

"Can we get something to eat? I'm starving," Sansa said brusquely and turned to look at her "friend."

Jeyne looked at her in surprise. "Uh, sure. Where do you want to go?"

 _Straight to hell_ , Sansa thought. _And I'm going to take you with me._ _If Sansa ain't happy, ain't nobody happy._

xxxxxxxxx

"So, you want to do what exactly, Robb?" Roslin asked over the phone.

Robb could hear the terseness in her voice and he didn't completely blame her for that. After having sex the night before, most would think that was a step forward in any relationship. Yet here Robb was, calling to tell Roslin he needed to take a step back.

"I'm saying," he began, "that I just need to focus on Sansa right now."

"But she has a boyfriend now. And friends – aren't you allowed to have those things, too?"

"You didn't hear her last night," Robb said as he paced the length of the kitchen. "She sounded wrecked after that nightmare. My sister is my first priority, I hope you can understand that."

She sighed. "I do…I'm just not…so what do we do then? We stop seeing each other?"

"Just for a little while. I'm sorry. I truly am, it's just hard…just when we think we're doing well something sends us right back. Sansa expressed guilt she had for not coming home on time that night and I didn't realize just how much she carried that with her."

"I'm sorry, Robb. I hope you don't think I don't empathize. I do. I guess I'm just disappointed. I really like you."

"And I like you," he said. He did like Roslin. He just didn't want her in the same way and that wasn't her fault.

"Can we still hang out on campus?"

"Of course," he said. But he would have to limit that, too. It was pointless to lead her on, plus unfair. Roslin deserved to be with someone that wanted her and only her.

Not someone who wanted his sister.

He was sick and depraved to be sure, but Robb held some hope that once he and Sansa healed, fully healed – if that was even possible – those feelings would go away.

And then later, when Sansa came waltzing through the door, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes bright with an excited gleam, he thought maybe not. She looked so goddamn beautiful his heart twisted in his chest.

She even looked at him!

"Have fun?" he asked from his spot at the kitchen table.

She laughed breezily. "Yeah."

"What did you and Jeyne do?"

She shrugged. "Nothing."

He arched a brow. "That's an answer I would expect you'd give to Mom and Dad. Not to me."

"Well, we just sort of hung out downtown. The boys joined us."

"I see. So, you like Harry a lot, huh?"

She looked off for a minute as if pondering that and then laughed and said, "For some things."

"What kinds of things?" Robb asked a little sharper than intended. He had to reign in the jealousy he felt erupting inside him. "Do I need to take you to the doctor, Sansa?"

She smirked and started to walk past him. "I'm already on the pill. Mom put me on it as soon as I started high school."

Robb sat there as she headed to her bedroom and felt rage pulse through him at the thought of Sansa having sex with Harry. With _anyone._ Is that what they had done today? He pounded his fist on the table and got up. He stormed down to her bedroom and burst through the door without knocking.

"Robb!" she exclaimed and clutched a shirt to her chest. She was only in her bra and jeans and she looked at him incredulously. "What the fuck?!"

"Are you having sex with him? Is that what you did today? Where would you even go to be able—"

"I didn't have sex with him!" she shouted. "Can I change, please, without a fucking audience?"

Robb sucked in a breath and stormed back out of the room, slamming the door behind him. He raked a hand through his hair and went down to the living room where he paced, his hands shaking, until he heard Sansa emerge.

She barreled into the living room, looking like a wild thing – wild-eyed and untamed. "And even if I was having sex with Harry, what does it matter? Are you the only one that can be having sex in this house?"

That took the wind right out his sails. "What?"

"Oh, don't look so innocent," she snapped. "I saw the condom wrapper in the trash in the bathroom. I know you and Roslin were bumping uglies while I was out last night."

"Sansa," he began. "That was—" He realized that he was about explain himself to her. As if he was her lover and owed her an explanation. He didn't. He was her brother and _her_ caretaker. He didn't owe her any explanations.

She didn't really owe him any, either. It was his job to make sure she took the necessary precautions so as to not get pregnant or contract an STD, but she didn't owe him an explanation as to why she may or may not be having sex with Harry.

"Yeah?" she prompted, looking at him challengingly.

"I just want you to be careful," he said evenly. "I don't want you to get pregnant."

"I don't plan on it."

He nodded slowly. "I have a right to be concerned about that. If you need more birth control, or a doctor's appointment…until you're eighteen I am still responsible for you."

She heaved a sigh. "I know."

"Roslin and I are taking a break," he told her.

She looked stunned. "What? Why?"

"Because you need me right now."

She clamped her mouth shut and her lower lip began to tremble. Her eyes filled with tears.

Robb was on her in two strides, taking her in his arms. "Sansa, don't cry, my love. Don't cry."

"I ruin everything," she sobbed. "I killed Mom and Dad—"

Robb took her face in his hands and made her look at him. "You did _not_ kill Mom and Dad," he growled. "Don't ever say that. You had _nothing_ to do with that fire."

"I should have come home on time. I could have saved them!"

"No, Sansa, you couldn't have. You would have died trying and then where would I be? I would be here without you and I can't ever be without you," Robb said raggedly.

He kissed her. He wanted to comfort her, to take her pain onto himself. He wanted…fucking hell, _he wanted her_. He kissed her with all that was in him, all the longing he felt, all the desire…he poured it all in the kiss.

She tore her mouth away and looked at him, eyes wild again. And then she kissed him.

Robb lifted her and attempted to carry her to his bedroom. He made it as far as the wall in the hallway. He pushed her against it and kissed her again and again like a man possessed. He ground himself against her and she whimpered.

He needed more. This wasn't enough. He needed so much more. He carried her into his bedroom and set her down on her feet and immediately began pulling and yanking her clothes off. Sansa did the same to him.

He grabbed her face and kissed her. Then he pushed her back onto the bed and followed her down. He parted her legs and she wound them around him. He reached between them, checking her readiness. He fingered her, rubbing her nub, and bent his head to take her breast in his mouth. He wished he had more hands. He wanted to touch every single part of her. He felt frenzied; out of control with need and want.

She gasped, and then moaned.

She was ready.

Robb pushed himself inside of her, his eyes squeezing shut at the sensation of being inside her. She was so fucking tight and hot and wet and perfect and oh, God, he was inside his sister and he didn't care. He just didn't care.

He began to move, reminding himself to be careful. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was aware that no barrier had been breached. . . but he was mindless to this, to loving Sansa, to being inside her finally, to having her under him and feeling her in every breath he took. She surrounded him. Consumed him.

"Tell me you want this," he breathed, realizing that perhaps it was too late to ask.

"Yes," she whispered.

Robb pressed his forehead to hers. "Sansa…God, Sansa…"

Her nails dug into his biceps; he could feel her breath on his face and he sucked his own breath in. He wanted the very air she breathed; he wanted every fucking part of her.

He kissed her and moved faster, her hips lifted and he went deeper inside her.

"Robb," she whimpered and then gasped. He felt her walls flutter around him. She was cumming. Just the fact that he made her cum sent Robb right over the edge. He gasped her name as he spurted deep inside her.

"My Sansa, my Sansa, my Sansa," he babbled into the crook of her neck. "I love you, I love you, I love you…"

They lay there, panting. Robb's heart raced and he lifted his head and looked down at her. He brushed hair from her face. It was coming now. The reality of what they'd just done. How he'd just taken his sister. Oh, God, he'd been like a wild animal.

She blinked up at him, her eyes wide.

"Did I hurt you?" he rasped.

"No."

"I…I'm sorry. I – I attacked you."

She shook her head. "No, you didn't."

His eyes welled up in tears. "I'm sorry."

"Don't, Robb, don't cry. It's okay, I'm okay. I wanted it."

"Did you? Did you really?"

"Yes," she whispered.

He rolled off her and gathered her tightly in his arms. "I came inside you," he murmured. "Are you really on the pill?"

"Yes."

"Do you hate me?"

She put her hand on his face and he looked at her. "I could never hate you," she said fiercely. "You're the only thing that makes sense in this fucked up life."

They lay together, wound around each other, until they both fell asleep.

* * *

Thank you, Imogen74!

So, did we like this?


	13. Twelve

**Twelve**

Sansa woke slowly the next morning and the events of the day – and night – came crashing into her like a tidal wave. Drinking at Jeyne's sex with Harry, racing with Harry, her and Robb arguing…her and Robb having sex.

Her eyes popped open. Oh, God. She and Robb had sex.

She was naked still, and alone in his bed. She rolled onto her back and caught a whiff of coffee and pancakes. He was making breakfast for them.

Sansa didn't know what to do. Knew even less what to say. What could either of them say after that? _I'll let Robb take the lead_ , she thought. _I won't say a word about it unless he does_.

She climbed out of bed and gathered her pajamas, strewn on the floor. Her cheeks reddened at the memory of how Robb had yanked off her clothes as though he was desperate to touch her. She had done the same to his, and _had_ felt desperate to touch him.

She pulled her clothes on quickly, somehow fearing that Robb would come down the hall and see her naked. That was silly, wasn't it, considering what they'd done? After she was dressed, she sat down on the bed. Her mind was determined to replay it all – every touch, every breath, how he felt inside her…

She'd orgasmed.

Her brother had made her cum where Harry had failed to.

Was that a testament to how perverted she was, or was it merely the fact that it had been her second time?

 _Jesus. I had sex with two different guys in one day_ , she thought with a wrinkle of her nose. She almost laughed then – _that_ was what she'd decided to focus on? Not the fact that one of those guys had been her _brother_?

She'd wanted it, too. When he'd first kissed her she had thought – _yes! I'm not alone in this. He feels it too!_ And then she'd just wanted to kiss him more.

She hadn't expected it to lead to them actually having sex. Even as he was yanking her clothes off she had thought that perhaps they needed to stop and collect themselves, but then she didn't. She didn't feel forced into it; she knew that if she had told Robb to stop he would have. But she hadn't exactly been ready for that…although having sex with your brother was not something one was _supposed_ to be ready for.

She swore she could still feel him inside her. Her breath quickened. He'd been so hot inside her, and hard and…and was it possible she was getting turned on just thinking about it? She shifted on the bed. Yes. Her vag was tingling.

"Oh good, you're up."

Sansa's head whipped to the door where Robb stood, sweat pants hung low on his hips and his arms stretched up over his head leaning on the archway above him. A patch of his stomach was showing and Sansa shifted again on the bed. "I'm up," she said, hoping she sounded light and breezy.

"I made pancakes, come on," he said and then pushed away from the doorway and walked away.

Sansa blinked at the spot he'd vacated. Her heart was racing. Breakfast. Sitting at the table together. Crap on a crayfish.

She got up and took several deep breaths, rounded her shoulders back, lifted her chin, and marched down the hall to the kitchen.

Robb was transporting pancakes from the grill to a plate. He had the table set, complete with a glass of orange juice for each of them, two mugs of coffee, and all the fixings for pancakes laid out.

"Has our kitchen become an IHOP or…?" she attempted to joke nervously.

Robb laughed and placed the plate of pancakes down. "Sit. Eat. Oh, and your phone has been blowing up this morning."

Sansa frowned and grabbed her phone off the counter before sitting down.

Harry and Jeyne were the two blowing up her phone.

Sansa scrolled through her text from Jeyne quickly. They ranged from "Are you mad at me?" to "I'm sorry" to "Please let us be okay". Sansa rolled her eyes and sent her a quick text that simply said: _I'm fine. You're fine. We're all fine. I'm not mad, stop worrying._

Then there were the texts from Harry. They started out short, wondering if she was okay (define okay, Harry), was she mad at him (it's not entirely your fault you're an idiot, is it?), and did she regret having sex with him (yes). Then they started to get lengthier. Oh for fuck's sake. Harry fancied himself in love with her. And he'd decided to tell her, and at great length. Over text.

He ended with what she actually did care to hear from him – her fake ID was ready. Well, how fucking sweet was that? In Harry's desire to prove himself to her, he'd worked extra hard to get her fake ID ready so she could participate in death defying feats such as bungee jumping and sky diving. He'd proved his love to her by enabling her to break the law.

She started to laugh. She couldn't help it. Between last night, this awkward morning, and fucking Harry confessing his love and finishing up her fake fucking ID as a token of his love for her – it was just too much.

Robb paused with a forkful of pancakes halfway to his mouth. A drop of syrup fell to his plate. His brow arched. "You okay?"

She kept laughing. "Fantastic." If he thought her laughter was normal and not at all maniacal, then yes, she was fantastic. She pushed away from the table and got up. "I need to answer some of these texts."

"Sansa, you didn't even eat your breakfast."

"I will. Don't wait for me."

The one great thing about her friends, even if she was currently sick of them, was that they really helped save her from these awkward moments. Like having breakfast with your brother after you had sex with him the night before.

Sansa continued to laugh all the way down to her bedroom. Tears sprang to her eyes, that weren't from laughter at all, and she sat down on her bed put her phone down beside her before burying her face in her hands. She thought, perhaps, she was going stark raving mad.

Had she and Robb really just attempted to sit down to a big breakfast as though they hadn't fucked the night before? Was Robb making her pancakes the equivalent of Harry making her a fake ID – because he wanted to make it up to her somehow? Were pancakes his apology for something she didn't really feel all that sorry for, but just incredibly fucking sick because she still wanted him?

Fuck everyone. Even Robb. She needed to get out of this apartment and away from everyone for a while. She collected a fresh change of clothes and headed down to the bathroom to shower and get dressed.

xxxxxxx

Robb pinched the bridge of his nose after Sansa practically ran out the door. When he asked her if she was seeing Jeyne or Harry, she'd said no, she was just going to hang out at the library for a while. He'd mentioned the fact that she hadn't eaten anything, and so she'd grabbed a couple pancakes, folded them in a paper towel, and then took off, her laptop bag over her shoulder as she banged out the door.

He'd made a right mess of this. Of everything.

When he'd gotten up that morning, Sansa's naked body beside him, he'd been ashamed to realize he wanted her again. What kind of guardian was he – what kind of _brother_ was he? He'd practically taken her like an animal the night before, and despite the fact that she'd said she'd wanted it, Robb wasn't entirely convinced.

While he'd made breakfast he'd prepared a speech in his head about how sorry he was, about how he loved her and was sorry he'd hurt her. He was going to tell her that they'd sleep in separate beds from now on, and even though he would never abandon her, it would probably be best if they kept some distance from each other.

If anyone found out what they'd done... He would go to jail for statutory rape, not to mention the fact he'd committed incest, but then there was what Sansa would be left to deal with from her friends and the remaining family they had left. Her life would be forever altered and she'd been through enough. They both had.

Yet he'd said nothing. Nothing at all! He wasn't sure what he'd been thinking by saying nothing – that they could sweep it under the rug? That they could pretend it hadn't happened? That he could go on pretending he still didn't want her?

He'd probably just confused her more and that was the last thing he'd wanted to do. Why did she cling to him as her port in the storm when he did so much wrong by her? He couldn't lose Sansa; he needed her, possibly needed her _too_ much. She was the only thing that kept him anchored, that kept him from drowning in his own grief.

However, that was probably what had gone so terribly wrong. They'd become too dependent on each other and somewhere along the way the boundaries had blurred – for both of them. But it was up to him to put a stop to it. He had promised to take care of Sansa – that meant making sure she did her homework and kept her grades up, making sure she was fed and rested, and didn't spend all hours of the day off with her friends and neglecting her schoolwork. It meant being there for her while she grieved, and supporting her as a _brother_ would. He was not her lover; he was her _brother._

Resolved now, Robb was determined that whatever they were going through right now was a blip. It would pass. As they healed, as time went on, this would pass. It had to.

xxxxxxxx

Sansa spent some part of the day at the library. Then she'd driven around aimlessly for a while. And then she'd gone to her house. Her burnt down house.

Her body had started to shake when she'd turned onto her street. How many times had that turn down her road been made? And yet now, almost two months after the fire, it felt new in an odd sort of way. It was a different Sansa that turned down her road. It felt like a different life, and in a sense it was.

She parked across the street and let the tears come. It was gone. All gone. All that was left was a plot of dirt. They'd wasted no time in clearing the debris. A plot of dirt where her house had once been and a driveway. She wanted to get out of the car and walk over to it – could she resurrect them by standing on that spot? Could she conjure up memories to comfort her and not bring her that aching sense of loss?

She'd never see Bran and Rickon grow up. She'd never see the kind of men they'd grow up to be. Bran had wanted to be a storm chaser. He was fascinated by tornados and asked for books and movies and anything he could get his hands on every year for his birthday. He could recite facts about them that had always made Sansa wonder if he even knew what he was talking about.

Rickon had just wanted to follow in his brother's footsteps. He didn't know much about tornados and storm chasing, except that it looked cool and it was what his brother wanted to do. So that meant he wanted to do it too.

Arya had wanted to an attorney just like their father. She would have been excellent at it, too. She liked to argue – oftentimes it felt to Sansa that Arya would just find things to argue about it, especially with Sansa. Sometimes _only_ with her. What Sansa wouldn't give to have Arya yell at her now for saying or doing something she deemed stupid.

Then there were her parents. Whenever Sansa was sick, she was Mommy's girl. She wanted her Momma to make her soup and tea, and make sure she was covered up and getting enough sleep. Ned, feeling left out, would come and check on her from time to time and make sure she was okay. Her father had always been such a quiet and yet stable figure in the house. Sansa had always thought Arya was his favorite, but Sansa had had her own special relationship with her father. Every Sunday, she and her father would watch Doctor Who together and he'd tell her about old episodes he remembered from when he was a kid.

"Sansa?"

Sansa looked up and found Asha Greyjoy standing at her window. The other girl looked both surprised to see Sansa, and sad.

"I haven't been here since…" Sansa said as she wiped her tears away with the back of her hand.

"I know, and I don't blame you for not being able to…" Asha trailed off and her own eyes welled up in tears. "We all miss them."

"You do?"

"Are you kidding? You guys had the best candy every year for Halloween."

Sansa laughed and Asha smiled at her, looking happy to have made Sansa laugh. "Hey," Asha said. "You busy right now? Why don't you come over? My Mom is making this huge pot roast for dinner. She always makes enough to feed the entire neighborhood."

Sansa smiled. "I believe we benefitted a few times from all that extra food. My Mom was always happy not to have to make dinner for all of us for one night."

"Come over, then. I know she'd love to see you."

"Would she?" Sansa asked, her voice trembling. The idea of going inside, of being part of a family meal, it both warmed her and terrified her. Would she be able to keep it together long enough to actually eat with them?

"Yes. She asks about you all the time and I never get a chance to talk to you at school. What do you say?"

She wanted to, but she didn't like the idea of going inside and being part of something that was equal parts scary and comforting to her without Robb. She bit her lip. "I just…Robb…he's home alone and…" _And despite the fact that I don't know what the fuck is going on with him and I, I love my brother and I don't want to leave him out of something that might be good for us._

"Call him and invite him! Are you kidding? Theon would love to see him!"

That was the Greyjoy's. Always willing to lend a hand. Always so warm and open and personable. Sansa nodded and with shaking fingers, dialed her brother.

* * *

Thank you! :)


	14. Thirteen

Sansa calling and asking him if he would join her at the Greyjoy's for dinner was the last thing Robb expected her to do.

"I just think it would be good for us," she said over the phone, her voice trembling. "Something…normal. Something that involves a family that isn't Uncle Edmure who I'm sure means well, but it's not the same and the Greyjoy's were our friends and neighbors and—"

"Sansa, sweetheart, breathe."

He heard her heave in a deep breath and then let it out. He leaned back on the couch and stared up at the ceiling with his phone pressed to his ear. "What made you go to the house?" he asked softly.

"I don't know. I guess I just needed to see it. It's not…it's not there, Robb. It's all gone." She started to cry softly.

Robb's hand tightened on the phone and he shut his eyes tight. If Sansa could do it…"Okay, I'll come over."

"Thank you," she whispered. "I'll be watching for you."

As soon as Robb turned down the street, he felt every part of him tense. He wasn't sure he was ready for this. For all that Sansa thought him the stronger of the two, he was only strong because she needed him to be.

He saw movement out of the corner of his eye as he crept closer to the Greyjoy's. He looked over and saw Sansa was coming out of their former neighbor's house, her arms wrapped around herself. Robb parked on the side of the road and kept his gaze down.

"Robb," he heard Sansa say. "Look."

He was already in tears, knowing as she'd said that there was nothing there. Their big house, gone. He looked. Dirt. Just dirt. He gave into the sob that wanted to be let loose. Sansa opened his door and tugged on his arm. Robb stumbled out and they engulfed each other in a hug. Sansa carded her fingers through his curls and held his head to her shoulder as he let loose.

Robb didn't know how long they stood there like that. When he finally looked at her, he noticed her eyes were wet, but she wasn't sobbing as he'd just been. He wished he'd been there with her so they could have had the experience of seeing their old house completely gone together. She pulled out some tissues from her pocket and wiped his tears away gently. Robb leaned in to her touch.

"I love you, Sansa," he rasped.

"I love you too, Robb," she said and stuffed the tissues back in her pocket. She pulled away from him and took his hand and together they walked up to the spot that was once their house and leaned into one another.

Robb let the memories wash over him. He thought of the time Bran caught a snake brought it in the house in the hopes that he could keep it. He thought of Rickon streaking through the house when he was a toddler after his bath. He thought of Arya almost breaking the coffee table when she practiced karate in the living room. And he thought of his parents and Thanksgiving dinner when they would sit at each end of their long dining room table and watch over their kids with smiles on their faces. He thought of how he wanted to be a good man like his father.

He tried not to think about what Ned would have to say about him and Sansa…

 _I'm sorry I failed you, Dad_ , he thought. _I'll try to do better. I promise._

"Let's go have a family dinner," Sansa said, breaking him out of his thoughts. He nodded and together they walked to the Greyjoy's hand-in-hand.

xxxxxxxx

Sansa was right. Going to the Greyjoy's for dinner was something they both needed. In some ways it felt like old times being in their house again. At dinner, Sansa and Robb sat side-by-side, practically pressed against each other. It reminded Robb of the memorial service when they'd sat together just like this, drawing strength from one another. At one point, Sansa's hand covered his under the table and squeezed.

Robb looked at her and smiled. She smiled back warmly. Whatever awkwardness had been there this morning between was, for the moment, gone.

Is this how it started? he wondered. Him and Sansa against the world. Him and Sansa forging a bond out of their grief to the point that they couldn't conceive of being without one another.

That bond expressing itself through sex. Through the deeper feelings he knew he had for her. He wanted Sansa, and it scared the shit out of him how much.

Mr. and Mrs. Greyjoy, Asha, and Theon asked about what they'd been doing, and how they'd been doing. Theon seemed hungry to hear about college since he had opted to take time off after high school and was now looking to go back to school.

After dinner, Theon pulled Robb away, wanting to show him his new car and the superhero paraphernalia he'd collected. As kids both had been into comic books, but it was something Robb had eventually lost interest in, but apparently Theon had not.

Sansa and Asha helped Mrs. Greyjoy cleanup from dinner, and then stayed in the kitchen talking while Mr. Greyjoy put the baseball game on in the living room. Eventually, that's where Robb and Theon ended up.

It was nice. It felt… _healing_. Sure Sansa had Jeyne and that lummox Harry, and Robb had his friends from school and before yesterday, Roslin, but this was different. They were with a family that knew their family. That knew the loss they'd suffered and didn't shy away from asking them how they were coping. With everyone else, he and Sansa felt like they couldn't talk about – not even with Uncle Edmure, who supportive as he was, was still very much cut and dry about the whole grieving process. In their uncle's mind, it was done, and now it was time to move on.

Having to be on everyone else's timetable for how long it took to be okay was stressful and exhausting. It was no wonder Robb and Sansa had gotten so close…though 'close' felt like too stark a word for what they had.

At nine, Robb excused himself and went down to the kitchen to tell Sansa they should probably go home. They both had school in the morning and he didn't know about her, but his earlier sob session had exhausted him.

He stood in the archway, a bit out of sight, and watched Sansa laugh and sip tea with Mrs. Greyjoy and Asha. He smiled warmly; he wanted Sansa to laugh and smile always. Not only did he wish for her to always be happy, but she was so beautiful when she—

 _Okay, Robb, get a grip_.

She looked up at him and smiled and then got up and went over to him to give him a hug. Robb hugged her back and murmured, "We should get home."

She nodded. "Okay."

They said their goodbyes and their thank yous. Theon and Robb made tentative plans to hang out, and Asha and Sansa did the same. Mrs. Greyjoy invited them back for dinner the following Sunday and Sansa happily accepted. Sansa carried Tupperware full of leftovers to her car. "See you at home!" she said to Robb as she climbed into her car.

Robb took one last minute to look at the spot where the house that he grew up in used to be, and then he followed Sansa home.

xxxxxxxxxxx

After changing for bed, Robb and Sansa met in the living room to watch some TV before bed. Sansa sat next to him, her head on his shoulder. "Did you have fun talking with Theon?" she asked softly.

"I did. You looked like you were having fun with Mrs. Greyjoy and Asha."

She moved her head to the back of the couch and looked up at him. "I was. It was nice, ya know, to sit there with a Mom…"

"With a whole family."

"Yeah. You don't think that's betraying Mom and Dad in some way, do you?" She looked saddened by the prospect.

"No, sweetheart, no," Robb murmured and cupped the side of her face. Their gazes locked and it was like a switch had been turned on. His gaze dropped to her lips and he licked his own without conscious thought.

"Robb," she half-whispered half-whimpered.

He shut his eyes and pressed his forehead to hers, his hand moving to her hair. He gripped it, though not hard. "What are we doing?" he whispered.

"Healing."

"Is that what this is?" he asked and looked at her.

"Yes," she whispered and kissed him.

Robb groaned. All those promised he'd made about this not happening again went straight out the window at the feel of Sansa's lips on his. He kissed her deeply, licking his tongue inside her mouth.

Sansa broke the kiss and got up from the couch. She looked down at him and held out her hand. Robb heaved a deep breath, knowing that if he took her hand they were going to have sex again. He should be stronger. He should fight this. He should put a stop to it.

He looked up at her, saw the need in her eyes, and slipped his hand into hers and got up.

Now that he'd accepted it, his need grew. His desire intensified. He stopped in the hallway and pulled Sansa back into him, pressing hot, open mouth kisses along her neck. Her hand went back, carding through his curls and holding him to her as she moaned.

His hand slipped under her tank and cupped a breast. Her skin was so soft. He spun her around and kissed her hard, voraciously, and pushed her against the wall. He pushed up her tank top and she helped him take it off her. He pushed down her pajama bottoms and panties and she stepped out of them while he rid himself of his shirt. She pushed down his sweatpants and then his boxers and he practically kicked them off.

Robb sank to his knees before her and she looked down at him heatedly, and with a question in her gaze. He leaned in and licked her pussy. He heard her gasp and her hands went to his shoulders. He lifted one slender leg and put it over his shoulder while he feasted on his sweet Sansa.

He traced her name and his with his tongue and then she cried out and dug her fingers in his hair and pulled slightly. Robb kept going. He loved this; the feel of her, the taste of her, her scent.

"Robb," she whimpered, and yanked harder on his curls.

He slid her leg off his shoulder and wiped his mouth before standing and kissing her hungrily. He lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bedroom. They descended onto the bed together and Robb slid inside her wet heat with ease.

Sansa drew him down and kissed him and Robb lost himself in her, in this. He didn't have sex with Sansa. He made love to her. Every touch, every caress, and every look – it was all done with love behind it.

Robb rolled them so that she was on top and she looked down at him as if to say 'what do I do?' He grinned and sat up, keeping his legs stretched out and Sansa had no choice but to sit on his lap, her legs also stretched out in front of her. Robb was able to get even deeper inside her and yet in some ways, he felt like it wasn't enough. They were as close as two people could get in this moment and yet he wanted more.

She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him as they began to move together, slowly at first, as if savoring one another. The feel of her breasts moving against his chest drove Robb wild and he bent his head and took one in his mouth and suckled from it. Then he swirled his tongue around the other one and then took that one in his mouth.

When he lifted his head she kissed him passionately. Robb began to move faster, needing more, needing release. Foreheads pressed together, their breaths mingling, Robb wasn't sure where she ended and he began.

She came with a keening cry, her arms tightening around him and her head falling back.

Robb pressed his lips to her throat as he thrust into her hard once, twice, three times, and then came. They clung to each other as they came down from their respective highs, damp with sweat, and their breathing slowly returning to normal. Without a word, Sansa climbed off of him and went to the bathroom and Robb got up to shut the TV off.

Sansa was in bed when he came back and after using the bathroom, Robb crawled in beside her, gathered her in his arms, and soon they drifted off together.


	15. Fourteen

The next morning, Robb and Sansa got up as normal, ate breakfast, and then left to start their day. They did not talk about what happened between them. They didn't even acknowledge it. And then that night when they crawled into bed together, Robb kissed her. They made love and then fell asleep in each other's arms.

This continued for the next two days.

Sansa began to wonder if she was losing her mind. They acted so normal in the morning and throughout the evening that it was like their having sex every night didn't happen. Was she imagining this was going on? Dreaming it?

Was this just coping with their grief, or was this something else now? Sansa wasn't sure anymore.

The only thing she was sure of was she still disliked Jeyne, she put up with Harry, and she was happy to be hanging out with Asha again. She invited her old friend to have lunch with her, Harry, Jeyne, and Willas, and though Jeyne didn't seem to like Asha very much based on the grounds that Asha was a goody-goody or some crap like that, Sansa didn't care. Asha wasn't afraid of Sansa mentioning her family; she didn't look away or grow quiet. She acknowledged it and that in and of itself was freeing. It began to feel as though her family had not become just ghosts she wasn't supposed to mention, but people that lived on in her memories of them and the love she still had for them.

One afternoon during lunch, when it was just Sansa, Harry, and Asha this time, Harry brought up bungee jumping. He wanted to go with Sansa.

"Bungee jumping?" Asha said with some confusion. "Don't you have to be eighteen to do that?"

Harry slung his arm across Sansa's shoulders proudly. "I got my girl a fake ID."

Only Harry would say this as if it was some grand romantic gesture. Sansa rolled her eyes. Harry didn't see her do it, but Asha did and she looked at Sansa in question.

"Harry is an adrenaline junkie," Sansa explained to Asha. "And I asked him if I could partake in some of the things he was into. Like bungee jumping." _I wonder if having sex with Robb every night counts?_ she thought. She felt her face go hot just thinking about how his cock had felt plunging into her while she lay on her belly.

"So, adrenaline junkie," Asha said, breaking Sansa out of her thoughts. "That means you get off doing death defying things, right?"

"That's pretty much it," Sansa said. "I mean both of them are kind of in controlled environments, though there is of course a certain level of risk in doing them, especially with sky diving when it comes to landing—"

"Have you done it?" Asha asked. "The sky diving."

"No, not yet," Sansa said with a sight. "I've just been reading up on it a little to prepare myself."

"Does, um, Robb know about any of this?" Asha asked.

Sansa shook her head. "Nope. He'd kill me." She frowned. "You won't tell him will you? Or Theon or your parents?"

Asha shook her head. "No, I won't tell. I promise. It actually sounds kind of cool."

"You want me to make you a fake ID?" Harry asked.

Asha looked at him warily and shook her head. "No, but thanks."

Harry shrugged and nudged with his hip. "So? What do you think, babe? Bungee jumping after school? My treat."

"Sure," Sansa said. "And don't ever call me babe again."

Harry shrugged again, Sansa rolled her eyes, and Asha just looked at her with brows raised.

xxxxxxx

Sansa stared out at the water and the tips of the trees that were spread out before her. Her heart was racing rapidly as Joe, the guy who worked for Bungee Enterprise, strapped her harness on. She wore a helmet and even had ankle harnesses. She was going to jump from the bridge she was on. If anything happened, she would land in the water and she certainly hoped the water was deep so she wouldn't crack her skull on any rocks.

"Sansa, are you sure you want to do this?" Asha asked nervously from next to her.

Sansa nodded. She was unable to speak at the moment. All her energy was in trying to keep herself under control. She was afraid, actually. Very afraid.

But this was part of it. Feeling the fear and yet pushing through it to do this. The high she knew would come after would be worth it.

"You're ready," Joe said. "Count of three?"

Sansa nodded. "Count of three."

xxxxxxx

At first it was like she couldn't breathe after she jumped. Despite the air rushing up to greet her as she dived down, down, down, to the water, she couldn't breathe. She imagined the bungee snapping. She imagined heading straight for the water, breaching the water, and hitting her head on rocks and spilling her brains out on them.

And just when she thought it would snap – that it had snapped – it stopped and the bungee snapped back and she was going back up. She laughed, and began to breathe better.

xxxxxx

The high lasted a while.

Afterwards, she, Harry, and Asha grabbed some fast food and she ate voraciously thinking maybe this would ground her a little and stop the shaking she still felt in her body.

Harry wanted to still hang out, but Sansa had other plans firm in her mind so she said no. She dropped Asha off, stared boldly at the spot her house used to be on, and then drove home to see Robb.

To fuck Robb.

Apparently bungee jumping made her horny.

When she walked in the house he was at the kitchen sink doing dishes. She shut the door behind her. Locked it.

He looked over his shoulder at her. "Hey. I didn't expect you home for a while yet."

"Are we alone?" she asked.

He nodded and looked at her in question. "You okay?"

He shut the water off and put a plate in the strainer.

Sansa caught sight of the muscle in his bicep flex under the sleeve of his t-shirt and she thought about how she wanted his t-shirt off. She thought about how strong he was when he braced himself over her and thrust inside her. Her brother was a fine specimen of a man and she really wanted to fuck his brains out and expend some more of this wild energy inside her.

He turned and leaned against the counter, his brow furrowed. "Sansa?"

She was about to do something she'd never done before with Robb. But after her experience bungee jumping she felt as though she could do anything. She felt invincible. High. She could do this.

She came over to him and when she was close enough in his space, she was pleased when his eyes darkened and his expression changed to one of desire. She kissed him hard, and he responded immediately, tangling one hand in her hair.

She kissed him until they were both breathless and then she broke it and met his gaze straight on.

"Sansa," he whispered. "Love—"

He broke off when she sank to her knees and began undoing the snap of his jeans.

"Sansa," he whispered again.

She pulled down his zipper and then yanked his jeans down over his hips followed by his boxers. When his cock sprang free— and it was hardening—she flicked out her tongue and tasted the cock that had been inside her the past three nights. This cock that made her cum so hard. This cock that was _hers_.

Robb gasped. "Fuck. Sansa."

She sealed her mouth around the head of his cock and sucked. He groaned and she felt his fingers in her hair. "Sansa, fuck, yes, God, sweetheart," he babbled as she began to bob up and down his cock. She was quite thankful she'd gone down on Harry that one time they'd had sex.

She might not be all that skilled, but she was definitely enthusiastic when it came to Robb's cock. She loved his cock and how it made her feel. She even thought it was kind of pretty. She did not think Harry's cock was pretty. That was probably why she had yet to fuck him again.

Or it was just because she didn't even like Harry all that much.

She felt Robb thrust inside her mouth and when she looked up at him, she found him watching her with a mixture of lust and awe. She placed her hands on his thighs and attempted to take him as deep down her throat as she could. She gagged a couple times and Robb tried to push her away.

How sweet.

But she wasn't going to stop until he came. She remembered Jeyne having mentioned once that guys liked it when you played with their balls, so that's what Sansa did for Robb.

"Fuck!" he exclaimed. "Sansa, stop. I'm going to cum."

She didn't stop. Instead, she worked harder to bring him off. She sucked hard on the head, drew him down into her throat until she couldn't anymore, and then lashed his cock with her tongue. When she sucked hard again on him, he cried out her name and came.

Sansa swallowed as much as she could. Her first taste of sperm. It wasn't _terrible_ …Some ended up on her cheek.

Robb was grasping the counter, his knuckles white. He gazed down at her in awe, his breathing heavy. She smiled, a Cheshire cat smile and stood, wiping the cum that had fallen on her cheek with her finger. He groaned when she licked her finger clean.

She grinned at him and then sauntered off, heading for her bedroom.

She had just made it inside her bedroom when Robb surprised her. He'd followed her; she hadn't thought he would do that. He had just come after all. His boxers were up around his waist, but his jeans were still undone. He spun her to face him and kissed her hungrily.

"Can you taste yourself on me?" she asked on a whisper.

Robb growled and pushed her to the bed. Sansa reached for him and he crawled on top of her and pinned her arms down to the bed with his hands. He looked positively feral and Sansa loved it. Loved him.

 _Loved him…_

Before she could give that much thought, Robb was kneeling between her legs and practically tearing off her leggings. He ripped her underwear off. He stuck his face in her pussy and Sansa cried out at the feel of his tongue on her. Her fingers tunneled through his curls and she thrust her pussy up to his face. Wanting more, needing more, so desperate for more…

He was an expert at eating her out. Oh, the things his mouth and tongue could do. His tongue was like a cock stabbing inside her, and then he sucked on her clit and Sansa came with a shout.

Robb wasn't done though. He got up and rid himself of his jeans and boxers and came back on top of her and plunged deep inside her. Sansa whimpered, her pussy still sensitive from her last orgasm. But she wanted this. She loved this.

 _She loved him_.

His thrusts were hard and fast. Punishing. Sansa met his every thrust. They were fucking like animals and fucking hell, it was fantastic.

"Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me," Sansa started to babble as she put her hands on her hips. He was jackhammering inside her.

"I'll never stop fucking you," he muttered.

This was the most they'd talked since this routine of them having sex had started. It was as if before, speaking made it real. So they didn't. They spoke little before, but never during or after.

"I love your cock, Robb," she said boldly.

He grunted and brought his hand to her nub. "You're mine, Sansa," he growled. "Your pussy is mine. You're all _mine_."

She met his gaze straight on. "And you. Are. _Mine_."

His gaze went from feral to tender in an instant and he whispered. "Yes, I am. I am yours. Fucking hell, Sansa, I am yours."

The strumming of her clit and his cock so deep inside her sent Sansa over the edge and her head dug back in the bed as her eyes rolled up in her head. Her nails dug into his hips and he came with a roar inside her.

As soon as he was done coming, Robb fell down on the bed beside her on his stomach. They gasped for breath together, Sansa was sure she'd seen stars.

She felt Robb move and she looked over him and found him moving closer to her. He lay on his side and drew her in his arms and kissed her as though they had all the time in the world. Their bodies were slick with sweat, but Sansa didn't mind. They'd fucked hard. He finished kissing her with a tug on her bottom lip with his teeth. He smiled smugly at her and she smiled back and then started to push out of his arms to get dressed again.

Robb wouldn't let her go though. He pushed her back to the bed and hovered over her. "I'm not done with you yet," he said, his voice deep and dark and full of delicious promise.

She was surprised. They never did it more than once a night. Could they withstand another round? When his mouth closed around her breast, and he sucked at her nipple, Sansa decided they could.


	16. Fifteen

They made love three times that night.

And in the morning before they both left the apartment for school, Robb had kissed her, slow and deep. Then he'd offered up one of his charming Robb smiles, and they'd left. On her way to school, Sansa had found herself touching her lips, still feeling his kiss there.

She swore she could still feel him inside her too, and there were moments during school when her mind would drift in class to their sex-a-thon and she'd rub her thighs together.

Things had changed. She had wanted him before, but there was a marked difference between then and now. Now she felt lust-crazed. She couldn't stop thinking about his body, how he moved, how gorgeous he was, how she wanted her hands on him and his on her.

Christ. Was this what a teenage boy went through? Well, at least she didn't have a penis to show the evidence of her want.

"Hey," Asha said as she caught up to Sansa in the hall.

Sansa smiled. "Hey."

"So, my Mom and Dad were wondering if you and Robb wanted to join us for Thanksgiving next week."

Sansa's smile fell and she stopped abruptly in the hall. "Thanksgiving?"

Asha laughed a little. "Yeah, you know, turkey and stuffing, and the beginning of the pilgrims stealing land from the Native Americans?"

Sansa's stomach dropped to her feet. "I completely forgot about it."

Asha frowned. "Well, you have had a lot on your mind. Plus, I'm sure the holidays are not exactly top on your list of things to want to celebrate."

"Crap on a crayfish. I wonder if Robb remembered."

"So, do you think you'll want to come over?"

"I would love to, but our uncle is still around…"

"I'll tell my mom. I'm sure she won't mind."

Sansa sighed and nodded. "Thanks. I just need to talk to Robb first. I don't know if being around people is something we're going to want to do."

Asha gave her a quick hug. "I understand."

In all the grief and fucking her brother, Sansa had completely blanked on the holidays. She knew they were coming the same way she knew snow was on the way, but until it arrived it wasn't really at the forefront of her mind.

The first Thanksgiving without her parents, Bran, Arya, and Rickon. Just the thought of it made her heart hurt. Then next month, Christmas. Sansa wondered what Robb would say if she suggested heavy drinking just to get through the next couple months.

xxxxxxx

When Sansa parked outside the apartment building that afternoon, her skin felt tight. She felt full of anticipation on what would happen when she got inside and saw Robb. Would he kiss her? Would they go at it right away? Would they talk about it? She was hoping he was ready to go because she was. Was this normal? Well, no, it wasn't. There was nothing normal about having sex with your brother. And he'd turned her into some kind of sex fiend. It made her wonder just how many girl Robb had had sex with.

She hated every single one of them.

"Robb?" she called out as she let herself in the apartment.

No answer.

Her phone dinged and she dug it out of her pocket and frowned. It was a text from Robb that said: _I am staying on campus to finish up a project for class. I'll be home a little later than usual._

Sansa frowned and typed back: _Oh. Ok._

Robb: _You ok?_

Sansa: _Yup. I'm gonna order pizza. And I'm not going to save you any._

Robb: _LOL Love you_

Sansa: _Love you, too_

Sansa sighed. Okay, well this wasn't exactly how she'd imagined her afternoon. And why didn't he call her sweetheart the way he did when they were having sex? Maybe in case someone saw his phone that would cause problems. Yeah, that was it. He was just being careful. It didn't mean he didn't want her anymore; it didn't mean he didn't love her. Of course he did.

"Hello?!"

Sansa sighed. Fucking hell. Uncle Edmure had come to visit. _Well_ , she thought, _maybe he'll take me out to dinner and I won't have to spend money on a pizza._

xxxxxxxx

 _Robb kneeled between Sansa's legs and he held them open and pushed them back as he thrust steadily inside her. He couldn't stop looking down at her, at the pink hue to her skin, at the way her breasts moved with every thrust he made, and how she watched him with those big blue eyes of hers._

 _"_ _You're so fucking gorgeous," he whispered._

 _She reached out her arms to him and Robb let go of her legs and moved so that he covered her. He kissed her long and deep, licking inside her mouth._

 _"_ _My Sansa," he murmured against her lips._

 _"_ _My Robb," she murmured back and tunneled her fingers in his curls to keep him close._

"Robb? Earth to Robb."

Robb snapped out of his memory from last night and looked at Roslin and then at Renly beside her. He shifted in the seat he was in and tapped his pen against his open book. The sooner they got their work done here in the campus library, the sooner he could get home and be with Sansa. He hadn't been able to get her out of his head all day. That actually wasn't anything new, but it was different this time. There wasn't the sting of guilt that typically followed thoughts of Sansa. He didn't question himself a dozen times per thought on why he wanted his sister so badly or wonder if what he felt was indeed love. And not the brotherly kind of love either. The kind of love a man had for a woman.

He kept going back and forth on that. What he felt was certainly different than anything he'd ever felt before. There was this… _primal_ facet to it that he'd never experienced before. He felt possessive of Sansa. She was his. Only his. That was certainly a problem for him when he considered the fact of Harry. Though he got the impression Sansa didn't care for Harry all that much. And when he thought about the fact that she had not been a virgin when they'd had sex the first time, he wanted to punch Harry the fuck out. However, it was possible that Sansa had had sex before Harry, in which case Robb wanted to knock _that_ fucker out.

It was rather strange to want to hit someone because they did something to his sister, and at the same time because they'd done something with his lover. That's what she was now, too, wasn't it? His lover? He wasn't quite fond of that term; it just sounded like an outdated term to him somehow, but what else could he call Sansa outside of his sister which had its own set of weirdness to it when he thought of making love to her? Was she his girlfriend? No. He couldn't call her that! At least not out loud, and it seemed such a weak term for what he felt, and what they shared.

They hadn't even talked about what it was they shared. . . He was afraid to. If they spoke about it, would it end? Would she go back to sleeping in her bed away from him? And the sex…Jesus. The sex was phenomenal. And the closeness he felt to Sansa, the intimacy. She knew him better than anyone and it added a whole other level when they made love.

 _Made. Love._

That's what it was, wasn't it? Even when it was feral and wild like it had been last night. God, he'd been so hot for her. And he wanted her now. He'd wanted her all day. Was she feeling the same way? He hoped he wasn't alone in this, and he didn't think he was. She was the one that had sucked him off within seconds of entering the apartment last night. That was the first time they'd had sex before bedtime. The past few days a routine had developed of getting into bed, talking, and then one of them would reach for the other and it would begin – and all without a word about it.

Fuck. Just the memory of her mouth on him…

"Are you even listening?" Renly asked. "Where are you, man?"

 _Between my sister's legs_ , Robb thought. "Sorry. I'm focused now. What were you saying?"

xxxxxxxxx

"Exactly when did you decide to take a year off before attending college?" Uncle Edmure asked over dinner. He'd taken Sansa to a nearby diner and had started in on college applications almost immediately.

"Around the time when my parents fucking died," Sansa snapped at him. She had enough on her mind with Thanksgiving and Christmas, the last thing she wanted to deal with was the college question. "I missed signing up for SAT's and didn't take them due to, ya know, my family dying and preparing for their memorial?"

"Watch your language. I'm sure there is some way you can still sign up." He sighed and sat back, watching her. "I don't like the idea of you taking a year off. Students rarely go back when they do that, and this is something your parents wanted for you."

"I'm sure they wanted to be around, too."

"You can't use their deaths as a reason not to move forward, and as a reason to not apply to college. If this is too much for Robb to keep on you about these things—"

"You're not sending me to Gram and Gramp, Uncle Edmure. I'm not leaving Robb. Plus, leaving in the middle of the school year isn't exactly going to do me any favors."

"Then I'm taking a more active role in making sure you get done what you need to get done." He whipped out his phone. "In fact, let's start now by finding out if we can find a place for you take the SAT's still…"

Sansa sighed in frustration. College was something she just couldn't wrap her mind around right now. It felt overwhelming. Just another change, another thing to prep for and stress out about. Didn't she have enough on her plate right now? She'd had thoughts of her and Robb maybe traveling a bit before she started the whole process of applying for school. She felt like they deserved a break.

Robb was graduating from his undergraduate studies in the spring, and she was graduating from high school. Their family was not going to be there to see this rite of passage, and then Uncle Edmure wanted her to go onto the next one? When she'd thought of college before, she envisioned her parents driving her to her dorm room with her things loaded in her father's truck, and her Mom helping her set everything up.

She was not going to go away to college and leave Robb behind so it was Winterfell University or nothing. But then, what if he wanted to move away when he was done school? They hadn't talked about that possibility.

"Sansa, what's wrong?" Uncle Edmure asked. "You look upset."

"I am!" she exclaimed. "Can you just – just stop pushing me on this?"

"Sansa—"

"I'm going to go to college, uncle. I am. I have been planning on it since I was a kid and it's not like I'm going to let my parents down by not going, but I cannot deal with this right now. I've had enough change in the past few months, and I just can't handle another stress, okay? Just give me a break, please?"

He sighed and put his phone down. He held up his hands in surrender. "Okay. I will stop."

She knew that wasn't the end of it though. He was most likely going to talk to Robb about this. Well, one thing was for certain. She wasn't going to bring up Thanksgiving and Christmas now.

xxxxxxxxx

Robb got home later than he'd wanted, and as soon as he let himself inside the apartment and shucked off his shoes, he checked the living room and then his bedroom for Sansa. Was it really just _his_ now? Or was it his and Sansa's? He wasn't clear on that.

He found Sansa in bed already, curled up on her side. The light was on and she had an open book next to her. He smiled down at her.

She stirred and looked up at him as he stood beside the bed. "Robb."

"Hello, sweetheart." She held up and arm and he immediately crawled into bed and pulled her close to him. He gave her a peck on the tip of her nose. "How's my girl?"

Her eyes welled up with tears. "Uncle Edmure is a dick, and Thanksgiving is next week and then Christmas is next month, and I don't want to go to college right away."

Robb gently ran a hand through her hair. "Sweetheart, slow down. What happened with Uncle Edmure."

Sansa told him everything that had happened at dinner with Uncle Edmure and Robb grew angrier with every word. He understood where his uncle was coming from, but at the same time, the reality of the situation was that Sansa needed some time. Planning for college was stressful enough, and she had enough on her plate. She was dreading Thanksgiving and Christmas (and so was he), so adding to her load was not helpful.

"I'll talk to him," Robb told her when she was finished. "I do want you to go to school, and I am fine with you taking a year off, but you have to promise me that you _will_ go back after the year is up."

"I promise. I want – I want us to go away for a while after we both graduate. Can we? I don't know where you want to end up, if you want to move away, but I want us to go away. Just us."

Robb smiled. "That does sound nice. As for moving away…" he sighed. "I don't know what I want to do regarding that. Part of me wants to get away from here and all the memories, and the other part wants to stay because of them. What do you think?"

"I think the same. All I know for certain is that if you move I'm going with you. I'll find a school close by and live at the dorm if you want to be alone."

"I want you with me," he whispered. Their eyes met and then Robb leaned in and kissed her. "I always want you with me."

Sansa rolled onto her back and pulled him with her. "Make love to me, Robb."

He was hard in an instant at her request. Whereas yesterday they couldn't get undressed fast enough, now they took their time. With each piece of clothing they discarded, a kiss was given to that area. When they were both naked, Robb suckled one breast in his mouth and then the other and Sansa moaned and writhed under him, running her fingers through his hair.

He caressed every part of her, murmured to her how he loved her and needed her, and by the time he was ready to enter her, Sansa was whimpering in her need. He loved the feel of her hands on him and when he entered her, kneeling between her legs, he grabbed her hands and put them on his chest.

It didn't take long for their coupling to turn passionate and frantic. Sansa grasped his shoulders and brought him down to kiss her, her hand going to the back of his head and holding him there while she kissed him voraciously.

Soon, Robb was pounding inside her. "Sansa, oh God, Sansa…"

She cried out, her walls clamping down around him, and Robb grunted and came. He collapsed against her and she held him close, lips skimming over his shoulder and the side of his face. When he could move, he moved them to their sides, but didn't let go of her. Every inch of Sansa had to be touching every inch of him.


	17. Sixteen

Thanksgiving. The day both Robb and Sansa had been dreading. When Robb woke up that morning, entwined around Sansa, his first thought was how he loved waking up like this, with Sansa nestled against him. He smiled. Then he remembered what today was and his smile fell. If his family was still alive, the smell of turkey and other delicious food would be permeating the house. Plus there would be the sound of that food being prepared. His mother would be commanding anyone who dared enter kitchen to do something to help – and then complain that they were doing it wrong. Meanwhile, if any of the Stark kids went near the kitchen thinking they could just get something to drink, their father would shoot them the look of "Save yourselves!"

Today, Sansa, Uncle Edmure, and Robb would be heading over to the Greyjoys for dinner. Robb wasn't sure how well that was going to go, but he figured it was better than having dinner at home or out at a restaurant. Maybe something familiar would help them through this day.

Sansa shifted in his arms and Robb loosened his arms to allow her the freedom to move. She turned over and looked at him blankly. He leaned in and kissed the tip of her nose. "Good morning, sweetheart."

She sighed in answer and then cuddled up to him, tucking her head under his chin. "Can we just stay in bed all day?"

That sounded like a slice of heaven.

She moved to look at him and lifted her hand to play with his curls. She had an endless fascination with his hair. He smiled and hummed and closed his eyes. "When will your period be over?" he asked softly, still keeping his eyes closed.

"It's over."

His eyes popped open. She smiled.

Robb leaned in to kiss her when her phone rang. He groaned. "Don't answer it."

"I have to," she said. "It could be Asha."

She got up out of the bed and grabbed her phone. Robb groaned again. So much for some morning nookie before they started their day.

They still hadn't talked about what they were doing. It was just something they did and instead of ignoring that it was happening, they went with it.

It was strange for Robb because in a lot of ways this thing with Sansa reminded him of any normal relationship, especially the beginning of one in which you always wanted to be with the person and couldn't get enough of touching them and being close to them. Yet, in the back of his mind was always the reminder that Sansa was his sister. When their uncle wasn't around, it was easy to pretend that he and Sansa were any normal couple that lived together. They had no one to answer to. If this had happened and their family was still alive…

Would it have happened if they'd still been alive? That was something Robb often wondered. Were he and Sansa in this…this _thing_ because of their grief alone or were they in some way destined for it? If their family was alive would Robb and Sansa one day would have discovered this thing they had together?

When Robb thought about a future in which he and Sansa had healed and were in a better place emotionally, would they still want each other as they did now or if it would go away? And every time he thought about a future in which Sansa was not his, his heart ached.

He watched her walk out into the hall and he wondered not for the first time how Sansa felt, and what she thought when she thought about them. He heard his mother in his head saying, _The only way to stop wondering so many things is to just ask_. But he was afraid of the answers, especially if Sansa saw them as something transient, something that could at any day stop. Sure she thought of him as hers now, but would that always be the case? Just like any relationship he supposed there were no guarantees to anything.

Pushing the maudlin thoughts from his head, Robb got up and headed to the shower.

xxxxxxx

It was both good and bad to be around a family, Sansa decided. It had brought tears to her eyes when she and Robb and Uncle Edmure had walked into the Greyjoy house and the familiar scent of Thanksgiving meal tickled her nose and made her mouth water. And yet there was enough of a difference in the scent to make Sansa's heart ache. When they'd gotten to the kitchen to add in their contribution – a pumpkin pie that she and Robb had made together – and Sansa discovered that Mrs. Greyjoy wasn't making green bean casserole the way Catelyn always did, she tried not to let it bother her.

But it did.

Robb took her hand and gripped it. She looked up at him and he nodded knowingly, and that helped. They were in this together.

Then Asha came to steal her away while Mr. Greyjoy called Theon, Robb, and Uncle Edmure into the living room to watch football.

Sansa was reluctant to leave Robb, but then Uncle Edmure slapped Robb on the back and said, "You two will survive without each other for a while."

Sansa wondered if she had cause for worry over that statement.

Over dinner, which was delicious but again, not the same as Catelyn's, Sansa was struggling not to focus on how every Thanksgiving dinner at some point Arya would launch mashed potatoes at Sansa's face. And every year Sansa would be outraged and Catelyn would banish Arya from the table. Ned, Robb, and Bran would talk football while Rickon tried to keep up to them even though he didn't really understand football all that much.

Catelyn would ask a dozen times how everything was, as though she didn't know how delicious dinner was, and Ned would tell everyone that he did most of the work and to stop complimenting their mother.

Instead, at the Greyjoy Thanksgiving dinner, Mrs. Greyjoy brought up college and asked Sansa where she planned to apply. When Sansa told her, Uncle Edmure cut in to tell Mrs. Greyjoy that Sansa was taking a year off first and didn't she think that was a bad idea?

"Uncle, we'll talk about that later," Robb said. "Sansa has a plan and I think we should respect it. Besides, Theon took time off and he's fine."

"I'm going to take a few classes at Westoros Community College to get back in the swing of things," Theon said. "Sansa, you could do the same. Just take a couple classes to keep yourself fresh."

"That sounds like an excellent idea," Uncle Edmure said. "What do you think, Sansa?"

She thought she wanted to stab him with her fork right in the hand. She looked to Robb for help.

"Robb's not going to be around to save you every time, Sansa," Uncle Edmure said.

"Leave her alone," Robb snapped. "We can talk about this later."

Silence descended, and after an awkward minute, Mrs. Greyjoy changed the subject to movies or any television shows people had recently seen.

After dinner, everyone pitched in to help clean up. Sansa ducked into the second floor bathroom to check her cell phone which had been buzzing in her pocket and found one from Jeyne and two from Harry.

Harry was having a terrible holiday and wanted to get the fuck out of his house. He was on edge, apparently, and wanted to go racing.

Sansa wanted to go too. She needed that high. Now that the Greyjoy's probably thought she was a loser after what Uncle Edmure had pulled at dinner, she felt…itchy. Robb and Theon had already been discussing possibly catching a movie and so it wasn't like she didn't have time to kill before she and Robb could be alone.

She texted Harry to come and get her in a half an hour and gave him the address. When she exited the bathroom, Robb was standing there. He pushed her back in the bathroom and shut the door behind him. He took her face in his hands. "You okay?"

"When are you going to talk to Uncle Edmure?" she asked.

Robb sighed. "Soon. I'm sorry. I meant to get to that this week but with papers to finish up, time escaped me."

She sighed. "I know. I just…I feel like a loser now."

"You're not, sweetheart. If anything, Uncle Edmure made himself look like an ass by haranguing you in front of everyone like that." He kissed her forehead. "I promise to talk to him."

Sansa sighed and wished she could have Robb right then. He must have felt the same because he kissed her – _really_ kissed her.

"I'll get out of the movie with Theon," he whispered and slipped his hand under her shirt, rubbing her side gently. "Okay?"

She scrunched up her face and looked at him. "No. You should go. I'm going to go out for a little while."

"Jeyne?"

She shook her head. Robb's expression darkened and his hands fell away from her. "Harry."

"Just for a little while."

Robb folded his arms across his chest. "Are you…are you and he…?"

"You're asking me _now_ if Harry and I have been having sex?"

"Yes," he said tersely.

"I haven't had sex with him since you and I…"

"Was he your first?" Robb whispered.

"Robb, I mean really—"

"So that's a yes." He raked a hand through his hair and stepped away from her. "All right. Well, now I know."

"Robb—"

"Ask Asha to go with you. Or I will ask her to. I don't want you alone with him."

Then he left the bathroom. What he didn't say, but what Sansa definitely heard was 'I don't want you alone with him _anymore_.'

Was this Robb jealous? Is that what that just was? Not that she could really hold it against him. She had been jealous of Roslin after all. She just hadn't expected it, and she wasn't sure what to do with it. In the throes of passion they told each other they belonged to each other all the time and staked their claim on one another. Sansa certainly felt that Robb was hers. She didn't like the thought of some girl touching him at all, but…

But what exactly _were_ they? Just lovers? Something else? Something…more?

Sansa couldn't very well tell Robb that she was barely even dating Harry. More like using him, and she hadn't been using him quite so much the past week. That was probably why she was feeling kind of twitchy now.

The rules of normal relationships didn't seem to apply to her and Robb no matter how much it felt like one at times. Well, she supposed if she really wanted to consider the fact that she and Robb had yet to define what they were, then it really was typical.

With a sigh, Sansa exited the bathroom and made her way downstairs. She caught Asha in the dining room putting out plates and forks for dessert. "Hey, Asha, question for ya."

"Yeah?"

"Harry wants to go out for a while and I was wondering if you would come with me?"

Asha blinked. "Oh, um. Sure. Okay. Yeah."

Sansa smiled. "Great. He'll be here in like twenty minutes. That okay?"

"No problem. Let's move this dessert along then."

"I'll get our pie," Sansa said and went into the kitchen where Robb was already taking the foil off the pie. He was alone. He looked at her, his eyes hard.

"Asha's coming out with me," she told him.

"I don't want you out late. I'll be home by ten. I want you home then."

She leaned toward him and whispered, "Are you going to fuck me really hard tonight, Robb?"

His eyes blazed with lust and his nostrils flared. Sansa smirked. Yep. He was.


	18. Seventeen

All Robb could think about during the movie with Theon was Sansa out with Harry. Sure, Asha was with them, but it was a small consolation. He didn't want Sansa with Harry at all. He didn't want to think about that boy touching her and kissing her. He especially didn't want to think about the fact that Harry had been her first.

So, of course, that was _all_ he could think of.

Sansa had lied to him. He'd asked her the night they first made love if she'd been having sex with Harry and she'd said no. What else was she lying about? Why would she keep that from him? Though his reaction to hearing she had in fact had sex with him hadn't been favorable. Jealousy had ripped through him. It still was.

 _Can I tell her to stop seeing him?_ he wondered. _Probably not._

She had said that she and Harry hadn't had sex since she and Robb had started to, but was that true? Sansa was _his_ , dammit. He didn't want to share her, but did he have the right to stake a claim on her? More to the point – was that something he should actually do?

xxxxxxx

Sansa wasn't sure how Asha was going to react to racing, and so she opted to wait until Harry was in position to actually race before telling her. Probably not the best move. Asha looked freaked out. "I'll get out and just wait for you to finish," Asha said. She started to fumble for the door and Harry rolled slowly forward, stopping Asha from getting out.

"No," he said, "Because if a cop comes along and comes after me, we won't be able to get you." He revved the engine and Sansa saw a flash of lights coming up behind them on the road.

"Well, I don't think we'll be able to do this anyway," Sansa muttered. "Car coming."

"Nah. That's my boy. It's Willas and Jeyne."

Sansa looked at him. "Why are they here?"

Harry grinned. "Because we're going to race them down this road."

Sansa wasn't so sure about that. In fact, she felt decidedly uneasy about it. There were enough variables for something to wrong when it was just one car, but _two_?

She was about tell him no when Willas honked his horn and tore off and Harry pressed on the gas hard. Asha begged Harry to stop. Sansa gripped the handle above her and her entire body tensed. She was no stranger to the rush of fear, but now it was magnified. If one of them lost control…

Or, if a cop car did indeed come along.

Because that's what happened.

Sansa shouted at Harry, warning him. The flashing blue lights cut through the darkness of the road.

Harry didn't let up, he was like a man possessed. He kept going, well past the stop sign – he ran it, actually, and then further down another street. Asha screamed. Sansa commanded him to stop.

He did, but only so he could take a turn. Then he shut his lights off and kept going. Streetlights lit up the street, but it was dark and it was dangerous to be riding without lights on.

"Harry! This is not safe!" Sansa shouted at him.

He kept going, gaining speed again.

"They're not behind us anymore!" she shouted at him.

He ignored her. Then, after the longest minute of her life, he final slowed and pulled into a driveway.

Anger replaced fear and Sansa hit him on the arm. Once. Twice. Three times.

And then he lashed out and hit her across the face. His eyes went wide; he looked horrified. "Oh my God, Sansa, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry—"

"Fuck you!" she shouted at him.

"Why do you always have to be such a cold, frigid bitch?!" he shouted back at her.

Asha, meanwhile, climbed out of the car. Sansa scrambled out after her. "Asha, wait."

"I'm walking home," Asha said. She sounded pissed and Sansa couldn't blame her for that.

"Asha, it's okay, just let Harry drive us back—"

Asha turned and faced her, eyes blazing. "No. Are you kidding me? What the actual fuck is this, Sansa? Racing? How _old_ are you? What is _wrong_ with you? Do you know how dangerous that was? Do you realize we could have been killed?"

"Please don't tell Robb," Sansa blurted out.

"Ah, I see. So it's not that you're sorry for dragging me into your fucking games your Neanderthal boyfriend, but you're worried I'll tell Robb on you."

"Sansa, get the fuck in the car!" Harry called out.

Sansa looked back at him. "I'm walking with Asha."

"Sansa, cut the shit and get in the car," Harry said, sounding irritable.

"No," she snapped. "And in case you didn't know, Harry, we're through." She started after Asha, thinking that would be the end of that.

It wasn't.

She heard the car door behind her but didn't register what was happening because she was so focused on Asha and Robb finding out that she wasn't prepared for Harry grabbing her arm and attempting to yank her to the car with him.

"Get in the fucking car!" he shouted.

"No!" she shouted and tried to get him to let her go. He was like a towering giant that wouldn't budge until Asha came over and started wailing on him with her fists.

Harry shoved Asha hard enough to knock her down on her rump on some stranger's lawn. "Fuck you both!" he shouted at them and stormed off.

Sansa winced when he sped off, the squeal of his tires piercing her ears.

Asha shook her head as she looked up at her. "You really know how to pick 'em, Sansa."

"I don't even like him," Sansa muttered and held out her hand to help her friend up.

"Then why…?" Asha asked, ignoring Sansa's offer of help. She stood and faced Sansa, hands on her hips.

"Because I like to race. I liked bungee jumping. I want to sky dive."

" _Why_?"

"Because I needed the rush. I needed to feel something other than numb." Her eyes filled with tears. "It made me forget for a little while that my family is gone."

Asha softened. "Sansa, you still have Robb. And I'm willing to bet that if something happened to you and he lost you too, he wouldn't know what to do with himself. Isn't he worth living for?"

Sansa nodded and wiped at hear tears. "Yes."

"Come on, let's go back to the house," Asha said wearily and meandered onto the sidewalk.

"Are you going to tell him?" Sansa asked softly.

Asha sighed, stopped, and turned around. "No, I won't tell him."

"Thank you."

"But you have to promise me you won't do that again. Please say that you and Harry are actually done."

Sansa nodded. "We are. We so are."

Asha nodded to her. "How's your face where he hit you?"

Sansa touched her fingertips to her cheek and winced. "Is there a mark?"

Asha frowned. "I can't really tell. We'll see when we get to my house."

Sansa sighed. "So, what are we going to tell your parents when we show up on foot?"

"Trust me, they will most likely be passed out by the time we get home."

"Good," Sansa said and stuffed her hands in the pockets of her hoodie. They began the two mile trek back to the Greyjoys. "So," Sansa began. "What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?"

Asha laughed, a bit humorlessly. "Right now? I'm just thankful I'm alive."

xxxxxxx

By some miracle, Sansa managed to make it home on time. Asha had driven her home, and as she had said, her parents were passed out in front of the TV, sleeping soundly. Theon was up in his room, but he hadn't bothered to come out so Sansa figured it was safe to say he had no clue Harry hadn't dropped them off.

Harry hitting her had left a bit of a mark, and Sansa came up with the lie that she'd just tell Robb that she and Asha had been goofing off and her friend had accidentally got her in the face.

As soon as she got in the house, Robb was in the kitchen waiting for her. She went right to him and threw her arms around him. Robb's arms wrapped right around her. "Sansa? You okay?"

"I am now."

"What happened tonight?" he asked.

"Nothing. I just…it was just a day, ya know?"

"I know," he murmured and then leaned back and looked at her. His eyes fell on the mark on her cheek. "What happened?"

"Oh, Asha and I were just goofing off and I moved the wrong way and she got me on the cheek accidentally. I'm fine."

He leaned in and kissed the mark gently. Sansa grabbed his face in her hands and kissed him soundly. "Do you love me, Robb?" she whispered.

"More than anything in this world," he whispered back.

"Show me."

Their lovemaking was slow, not hard. Robb loved her so completely that Sansa nearly wept in his arms. He was everywhere, touching her, kissing her, caressing her, and sometimes it didn't feel like enough. As he moved over her, his cock driving deep inside her, Sansa touched his face, his chest, and his sides, ran her fingers through his hair and kissed him again and again. When she came it wasn't just physical, it was emotional. Robb shuddered through his release, gasping her name over and over and then pulling her with him as he rolled to his side.

"Stay with me," he murmured as he held her close. "Stay. Just like this."

She stayed.

xxxxxxx

The next morning Sansa woke up to the sound of her phone chirping. Robb was already out of bed. Sleepily, Sansa grabbed her phone off the nightstand. There was a text from Asha. It simply said: I'm sorry.

And then she heard Robb's phone ringing in the other room. Her eyes went wide and she scrambled out of the bed, yanking one of Robb's t-shirt on before flying down the hall to stop what she knew Asha was about to do.

She practically skidded to a stop like in a cartoon when she got to the kitchen and found Robb standing there, phone to his ear, jaw clenched, and eyes blazing with fury as he looked at her.

 _Shit._


	19. Eighteen

Sansa clutched at the wood on the frame of the doorway and wanted to move from where she stood – she wanted to run, actually, but she was quite rooted to the spot. It was the blazing fury in Robb's eyes that pinned her in place.

"Thank you, Asha, for telling me what happened last night. Now I know how Sansa got that welt on her face."

Sansa finally moved. She stepped back…one step…two…

"I need to let you go, Asha," Robb said. "Thank you."

Sansa turned and started to walk quickly toward her bedroom. Robb was on her in no time flat. He grabbed her arm and whipped her around to face him. "Tell me again how Asha got you in the face, Sansa!" he shouted. "Tell me why you've been hanging around Harry and what good he's for?"

Sansa tried to pull her arm free but Robb wasn't letting go. "You already know everything—"

"Why do I feel like there's more?"

"Robb, let me go."

"What else have you been doing, Sansa? What didn't Asha tell me – or does she not even know?"

"Robb, just fucking let me go!"

"Tell me what else you've done!"

"Bungee jumping! I went bungee jumping!"

Robb's grip slackened from shock and Sansa was finally able to free herself. "Why?" he asked. "Why did you do all those things? Do even realize what could have happened last night if another car had been coming down the road while you and that idiot and your friends were racing down that road? What if some kid had been crossing the street – or just anyone at all? What if he hit a tree? You could have been killed— " He broke off, his voice cracking. He clenched his jaw tight, looking as though he was trying to get himself together. "You could have died and left me— is that what you want, Sansa? Do you want to leave me? Do you want to die?"

Sansa went to him, putting her hands on either side of his face. "Robb, no—"

He growled and grabbed her wrists and shook her. "Why, then? Why did you do those things?"

"Because I wanted to feel something other than numb. It gave me a rush, and gave me an escape. I liked the danger. I liked the feeling of defying death. It made me feel high after, and I craved that feeling."

His grip tightened around her wrists. "And me? What am I then, Sansa? Another form of escape?"

She blinked. "What?"

"You and me – what are we? All this time you've been my solace. My only comfort. And yours has been doing things that were dangerous. Am I just another rush for you? I mean, I am your brother and it's not like what we're doing is normal and healthy—"

"No," she whispered. "You are my solace, Robb. I love you."

His hands were like bands around her wrists. "If you had gotten into trouble, if you'd been found out, do you realize that Uncle Edmure would have tried to send you away from me?"

She hadn't. She hadn't thought about that. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Do you want to be sent away from me?"

"No," she whispered and shook her head. "No, I don't want to be taken from you. I can't."

"You're not seeing him anymore," he muttered. "If I see Harry I'll fucking kill him, do you understand me? It's over _now_."

"I ended it last night." She leaned in and tried to kiss him. He turned his face away and released her wrists. "Robb, please," she begged.

He moved away from her. "No, Sansa, you risked too much. You could have been killed or killed someone. After all the death we've had to face, how could you do that?"

She didn't have an answer for him. Not a good one anyway. He walked away from her and, ashamed, Sansa slinked off to her bedroom and shut the door.

xxxxxxxxx

Robb and Sansa spend the day away from one another. Every time Robb thought about what she'd been doing and how she could have been killed or killed someone else with that little shit Harry…

His blood boiled. So, he went for a long walk to clear his head.

Hidden beneath the layers of fear he felt over her doing something so reckless again, underneath the anger he felt at her keeping it all from him, was the fear that he was fucking her up even more.

What were they doing? It was madness.

Was he pushing Sansa right into the arms of death? He was supposed to support her and yet he feared that what he was doing was harming her even more.

Sansa needed help. More help than he could give her…and since he feared he was part of the reason she wasn't doing well, he thought perhaps he should, in fact, let her go.

xxxxxxxxx

When he returned home, he went to Sansa's room and found her sitting up in bed and reading a book. She put it down when she saw him and watched him as he came over and sat down. "I've been thinking," he said.

She stayed silent.

He wasn't sure he was going to be able to get this out. His heart ached, his gut twisted. "What we're doing…I'm afraid I'm…I'm afraid I'm making things worse for you."

"No," she said and put her hand on his shoulder. "I need you."

"I need you too, Sansa, but I need you alive."

"I'm not going anywhere, Robb. I won't do any of it anymore, I promise."

"I don't want to add to the list of reasons you need to escape, and I don't want to be the thing you use to punish yourself with."

She moved so that she was kneeling beside him. "Robb, you're not. I don't punish myself with you. I love you."

"I love you more than a brother loves his sister, Sansa. And I crave you…but if I'm sick I'm not going to make you sick too."

"What are you saying?"

"I think it's best if you go live with Gram and Gramp," he whispered.

"No, Robb, no," she said as she started to cry. She crawled onto his lap, straddled him, and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his neck. "You can't send me away. I love you, I need you. Please, Robb."

"Sansa, it won't be for forever. Gram and Gramp can get you the help you need to heal—"

"I need _you_!" she exclaimed and tried to kiss him. He moved his face away from her and she began sobbing. "Robb, don't do this, please!"

"I'll hire tutors to make sure you graduate—"

She grabbed his face and kissed him. It took every ounce of strength in him not to reciprocate. "I'm sorry, Sansa," he gasped.

"If you send me away I'll never forgive you. I'll hate you forever."

"I thought I could take care of you. I thought I could do right by you, but I've ruined everything and I won't let you self-destruct because of me."

"I didn't do those things because of you. I did them to forget about Mom and Dad, to forget about our siblings, not because of you. I need you, Robb. Don't you love me?"

"I love you more than a brother should," he whispered.

"And I love you more than a sister should. Please don't do this."

He couldn't stand to see her in such pain, but if he was making her worse…More than anything he wanted to wrap her up in his arms and make love to her. He wanted them together always, but how was that plausible? And what if what they were really doing was self-destructing together? What did it do to ones psyche when they engaged in an incestuous affair? Maybe he was so far deep into it he didn't even see what it was doing to them. But what if Sansa didn't want it as she said she did – what if racing and bungee jumping – what if that was her cry for help? Had he become her captor? She said she needed him, but maybe he was the one keeping her hostage with his need that he thought all this time was _their_ need.

"Uncle Edmure is going to pick you up in the morning. He's going to fly out with you to Gram and Gramps."

Sansa froze. She climbed off of him and looked down at him with hurt and betrayal in her eyes. She slapped him across the face. "I will never forgive you for this," she told him. "You're going to regret it."

"Gram has a psychologist—"

She slapped him again. "I don't need a psychologist. I need _you_. And you're sending me away."

"Because I love you, Sansa, and I won't be the reason you don't get well."

His words fell on deaf ears. He tried to reason with her. Tried to make her see that he didn't want to fuck her up, and by having sex with her he was afraid he had. She alternated between shouting at him and sobbing and begging for him to not to send her away.

They slept apart, her rage keeping her from his bed. Robb sobbed himself to sleep. And in the morning when Uncle Edmure came to take her away, Robb thought he just might keel over from the searing pain in his heart. He hugged her and begged her to hug him back, and she refused. She wouldn't even look at him.

He very nearly went after them after they'd left because he wasn't sure he could do this. How could he live without her? She'd taken his heart with her. Had he been too rash? Had he not thought this through well enough?

That first night without Sansa, and Robb thought he was going to die. By midnight he had the phone in his hand ready to send her back to him. He forced himself to put it down.

xxxxxxxxxx

The days bled into each other and every time Robb called - every day he tried - Sansa refused to speak to him. Robb learned that she'd been enrolled in school and given tutors so she would be sure to graduate. She still had no plans to apply for college.

Robb booked a flight to see her at Christmas and a two-day blizzard kept him from being there. When he learned that Sansa had overdosed on sleeping pills, he flew out on the first flight. She'd been admitted into the hospital and when he tried to see her, she refused to see him.

He went back home after a week of trying to see her and being sent away.

While Sansa was getting the help she needed, Robb decided to get the help he needed. It felt a bit like a farce to tell a therapist everything but the fact that he was in love with his sister. As such, while he healed from losing his family, there was a gaping hole in Robb's heart that he feared without Sansa, would never be filled.


	20. Nineteen

"Sansa?"

Sansa heard the hope in Robb's voice over the phone. The hope that she was well. That hope that she didn't hate him anymore. After a month in the hospital getting, as her grandparents had put it, "the help she needed" she thought maybe it was time to call Robb. The need to punish him wasn't as strong as it had been before.

"Hi," she said, and her voice came out a bit hoarser than she'd expected. Hearing his voice dredged up so many feelings she hadn't wanted to feel. Feelings she had thought she'd been able to turn into numbness.

"Sweetheart," he breathed. He sounded like he was about to cry. "How are you?"

"My therapist said that when I was ready I should call you and tell you that I forgive you."

"Do you forgive me then?"

"I don't know," she said honestly. "I feel like I have a gaping hole in my heart…" What she didn't add but wanted to was: _and it's all your fault._

"I have the same," he said softly. "I miss you, sweetheart. I miss you so much."

"I understand why you sent me away," she said.

"Do you really?"

"Yes. I have a lot of time here to think…"

"Is it helping you?"

"Yes." _But I still miss you. And I still love you. And I hate myself for it._

"When I heard what you tried to do…I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Now he started to cry. "Can I see you, Sansa?"

"No," she said. "I don't think I should see you for a while."

"Sansa, _please_."

"Don't do this, Robb. You sent me away, remember?"

"I didn't want to. I was worried, Sansa. I was worried that I was making everything worse for you. I was afraid if you continued to self-destruct, I wouldn't be able to help you, that you would have been lost to me forever."

"And look where I am now. And why."

"Tell me what to do and I'll do it," he begged.

"There's nothing you can do," she said. "I wanted to call because…because despite what I did, and despite the fact that I wish you hadn't made me go, I get it. I think this will ultimately be good for us. My therapist thinks that you and I were too enmeshed – don't worry I didn't tell her that we…I won't tell her that. But she thinks that we kept each other from healing and that our reliance on each other wasn't healthy."

"You're still my sister," he whispered.

"I'm going to do what I have to do now to heal."

"Will you tell me when I can see you?"

"Yes. Good-bye, Robb."

"No, not good-bye, Sansa. It's never good-bye with us."

She hung up. Maybe she hadn't forgiven him quite yet.

xxxxxxx

"I'm home!"

Robb clutched the phone to his hear and his eyes shut at the sound of Sansa's voice, sounding lighter than it had for a long time. It had been a month since she'd called him to tell him she understood why he'd sent her away. And while he wanted to correct her – her _home_ was still with _him_ , not with Gram and Gramp – he didn't dare.

Not a day went by that Robb didn't think of her. As he healed from losing his family, what he felt for Sansa began to separate from that tangled web of grief and dependence. It was a process he was still working through, and he feared that his feelings for Sansa were very real, and not strictly the love a brother felt for his sister. He grieved for his family and he nursed what felt like a very real broken heart. He would not express that to her though. She was on the path to recovery and he wouldn't do anything to ruin that for her.

"How do you feel?" he asked, keeping his voice light.

"Pretty good. I'm going to be seeing my therapist once a week now…how are you?"

 _I miss you._ "I'm okay. School is almost over. How are your studies going?"

"I'll be able to finish and get my diploma," she assured him.

"I sent a birthday card and a gift to Gram and Gramps. Did you get it?"

"I did. Thank you. I really liked the locket."

"Mom and Dad will be with you all the time now."

"Yes," she said softly, "they will."

"Can I come out and see you?" he asked, even as he wondered if it would help either of them. But he missed her, and he'd nearly lost her and even though she was clearly still alive he wanted to see her with his own two eyes. Wanted to hold her and assure himself of her existence.

"…No. I'm sorry, Robb, I'm just not ready for that yet."

He fought back tears. "I understand."

"Gramp is calling me," she said. "They made me a big dinner to celebrate my coming home. I'll talk to you later."

 _I love you._ "I'm glad you're doing better, Sansa."

She hung up before he could even finish speaking.

xxxxxxxx

"Hey."

Robb smiled into the phone while feeling his guts were being ripped out at the sound of her voice. He could almost convince himself that he loved Sansa just as he should – as a brother – during the day. And then when he was alone and his thoughts would drift to her, he felt an ache in his chest so deep it felt as though his heart was being shredded. And then when he heard her voice he wanted so much for her to be there with him. "Hey."

"Congratulations on graduating!"

He laughed, loving the joy he heard in her voice. "Thank you. I've been packing…"

"Oh, guess it's time to move now, huh?"

"It is."

"You found a place?"

"Yes, downtown. It's a loft with really high ceilings and huge windows. You'd love it."

"Well, maybe one day I'll see it."

Robb sat down on his unmade bed. "It has a spare room."

"Awesome. You'll have a study then to write all your political articles. Gramp told me about your new job writing for the paper."

She'd deliberately missed his point, but Robb wasn't about to give up so easily. "Sansa…will I be able to see you soon?"

"Um…maybe."

"For your graduation?"

"Maybe." She sounded uneasy.

"You'll let me know, sweetheart?"

"I don't think you should call me that anymore."

He shut his eyes briefly. "Okay."

"I just wanted to call and say congratulations and see how you were."

"I'm well. I'm looking forward to a change of scenery."

"I bet."

"You know you can come home any time you want, right?"

"I know. Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me for that, Sansa. Christ, I—"

"I gotta go. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Sansa, eventually we have to see each other and really talk."

"I know, but not now."

She hung up before he could ask when.

xxxxxxxx

Six months. He hadn't seen Sansa in six months. She'd attempted to take her life, she'd been in a hospital seeking help, and still he hadn't been allowed to see her. Robb was trying his level best to respect her wishes, but he felt at the end of his rope.

He wanted to see his Sansa.

And, just as he was preparing to surprise her with a visit he got the call from his grandparents that she'd left for a trip to the UK for an undetermined amount of time. Robb had called her immediately, furious with her and furious with himself.

"Hi, Robb!"

Robb frowned. He could hear loud music and voices in the background. "Sansa, where the fuck are you?"

"I'm in a pub. Hold on!"

He heard her telling someone named Margaery she was going outside for a minute, and then he heard moving around and then all the background noise went away.

"Hey," she said.

"Don't 'hey' me, Sansa. What the hell are you doing in fucking England?"

"I told you a long time ago I wanted to go on a trip after graduation."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I wanted to come out to Gram and Gramps to see you."

Silence, then, "You're there now?"

"No, but I was planning on it."

"You didn't tell me that."

"I wanted to surprise you."

"You should have asked first."

"Every time I ask you tell me no."

She sighed. "I don't know what you want me to say."

"Will I never be able to see you? How long are you going to punish me?"

"I'm not punishing you," she snapped. "Jesus, why do you have to see me so bad?"

"Because you're my sister, Sansa, and I love you. I _miss_ you. The question is why won't you let me see you?"

"I'm not ready," she said softly.

"Do you think you'll ever be ready?"

"Yes. When I'm no longer in love with you I'll be ready."

He started to tell her not to say that because he was still in love with her, but she hung up and when he tried to call back, she wouldn't pick up. Robb hunched over on his couch and started to cry. What a mess he'd made. He sent her away to help her heal, to make her better, and to keep from hurting her more and all he'd succeeded in pushing her completely away. Here he was, six months later, still longing for his sister while she was doing everything she could to put him behind her.

He told himself that if this was what she needed to do to continue healing then he couldn't stand in her way. He told himself it was for the best.

He just wished someone would tell that to his heart.


	21. Twenty

Aegon Targaryen had fire. He liked to say that Sansa had it, too. She liked that. He was never boring, even when they were doing nothing but sitting and watching TV together. His running commentary was spot on and never failed to make her laugh. And he was ever so pretty to look at: blond hair, eyes so blue they were almost violet, and _strong_. He made her feel protected. And special. Sansa hadn't realized how much she'd needed that until Aegon had bought her a drink at a pub and told her he was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen in his life.

"You're not dead yet," she'd told him. "You've got a lot of life left to live."

"Trust me, darling, you're it," he'd told her with a grin.

It was the first time in meeting a guy since she'd left Robb that she had any real interest, and didn't compare the guy to Robb. That was progress. Sansa settled in London with Aegon in his flat for a while despite the fact that she felt uneasy about blowing through her inheritance. So, she got a job to make up for it. Nothing spectacular, just a waitressing job. Aegon was an attorney, so he could argue like a champ. Unlucky for him, so could Sansa.

Not that they fought a lot, but when you put two people together with fire such as theirs, it was bound to be a little explosive at times. Sansa liked it though. There was something cleansing about a good fight.

Three months in to their relationship and Aegon brought up the possibility of them moving to the States. Sansa, for some reason, hadn't really considered going back home an option even if her trip to Europe was supposed to be temporary.

"I've always wanted to go," Aegon had told her. "And don't you think it's time you went back and put some ghosts to rest?"

By that he meant Robb. Aegon saw how she never answered Robb's calls, rarely responded to texts and would sometimes respond to an email. Sansa couldn't very well tell him that hearing Robb's voice dredged up old feelings for her brother that would probably make Aegon retch. So she told him a different truth that also happened to be true: hearing Robb's voice reminded her of a period in her life when she'd felt as though she'd been drowning in her grief. She was treading water now and soon she'd be swimming. She wanted to swim.

So, going back to the States felt like a wrench in that plan. However, she also knew she couldn't avoid Robb forever. She just wanted to. Besides, she was pretty sure that he had probably moved on by now as well. This was part of them being well. Of them having healed. Healthy relationships with others and a healthy relationship with each other.

Except, Sansa didn't know how to have a healthy relationship with her brother. How did she go about doing that when she still felt as though she had not fully healed from her broken heart? Aegon helped, he did. He was her step in the right direction. He was her hope that she could live a normal life free of a romantic attachment to her brother.

It was strange to forgive Robb for sending her away because she knew now that all he'd wanted was the best for her. The best chance for them both. How would their romantic relationship have ruined their lives had it continued on? Would they have become something twisted, so enmeshed had they been, so unable to see out of their grief? She could see now that it hadn't been healthy, but that hadn't changed the fact that she'd been in love with her brother and sending her away had shattered her heart.

She hated to think of her suicide attempt now. At the time it had felt like the only plausible answer to not having her family and not having Robb any longer. Maybe she had been heading to that point the whole time…her therapist had seemed to think so and in retrospect she could see how it had certainly looked that way. However, she'd known that as long as she'd had Robb she wouldn't have ever left him. Yet in her anger and in her despair, she had wanted to leave it all. It felt cruel to deal with a twice broken heart.

And sometimes she felt it still. The loneliness. The feeling that there wasn't an end to the pain she carried with her. Thanks to therapy though, she had new ways to cope when memories made her cry instead of smile.

Aegon was a great support. He didn't pretend to understand how she felt, but he didn't make her feel as though she couldn't talk about it. He listened. He held her when she cried. He encouraged her to call Robb. "You won't fully heal, Sansa, until you mend that fence," he told her. "You're hiding here with me; you're not really living. Let's go. Let's go and try it. If we hate it, we'll find someplace else to go."

So, partly to put to rest those ghosts, Sansa agreed to a probationary period in Winterfell. She'd maybe take a few classes, get a job, do all the things she'd promised to do and hadn't.

She finally called Robb to tell him the plan.

xxxxxxxxxxx

"Hi, Robb."

Robb's heart clenched. He hadn't heard Sansa's voice in so long he'd forgotten what it sounded like. "Sansa," he said, almost in disbelief. "Swe- How are you?"

"I'm well. How are you?"

"I haven't heard from you in a while."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that…"

"You've been busy then?" he asked, making sure to keep his voice light. He did this with every phone call between him and Sansa. The last time he'd heard from her had been three months ago. Not for the lack of trying on his part. She just never returned his calls. Or his texts. Once in a while she responded to an email.

"Um, yeah, you could say that. How are you?"

"Fine. Working. I work a lot."

"Just work? No dates?"

He rubbed his forehead and sat down in his office chair, hunched over. "I've been sort of seeing someone. We're taking it slow." Slower than Talisa probably wanted to take it.

Silence, then, "Well, that sounds nice. What's her name?"

"Talisa."

"Talisa. I like it."

"I work with her at the paper. She does advertising."

"So, things are going well there?"

"I have my own column," Robb boasted. He was pretty proud of that.

"That's awesome."

"And what have you been doing? I don't want to lecture you on blowing through your inheritance."

"I got a job. Waitressing. Not glamorous, but I didn't want to blow through my inheritance either."

 _"_ _Don't forget to tell him about me!"_

Robb frowned and sat up straight at the sound of the man's voice in the background. "Who was that?"

"That was Aegon."

"Boyfriend?"

Robb hated him already. That was wrong. He shouldn't hate this Aegon. He should have an open mind instead. Aegon wasn't Harry – at least Robb hoped he wasn't the British version of that fuck.

"Yeah, I…I sort of live with him."

There was a roaring in Robb's ears. She was talking, but he talked over her. "You didn't even tell me you were dating, and now you're living with someone?"

"I didn't think I had to tell you."

She didn't, that was true. And yet at the same time the heads up would have been nice considering….

Considering what?

 _Considering what we'd been_.

"So, you have a boyfriend and you're living with him," he said dumbly.

"Yeah, and Aegon wants to move to the States. I'm not that keen on the idea, but we're going to give it a shot."

"You want to stay in London?"

"Well…yeah. I mean it makes the most sense to me..."

Robb got up and started to pace. His heart was hammering hard. His temper was sparked. "You haven't talked to me at all, Sansa. I know nothing about this. You sent me a fucking forward the other day, but none of this was in there."

"You're angry."

"Angry doesn't begin to describe how I feel right now, Sansa. You don't return my calls, none of my texts. You have these major life changes happen to you and you don't even think to call and tell me?"

"I'm telling you now," she said, and he could hear the tension in her voice.

"Are you coming home?" he asked. _Are you coming home to me?_

"Yes. Looks like we'll be heading out in about a month."

"I want to know when you fly out. If I leave it up to you, you'll be here a month before I fucking see you."

"Robb, seriously—"

"No. Don't you fucking dare get upset with me. I'm still your brother, Sansa."

"I don't want to fight," she said softly.

"Then make sure you tell me when you're flying out so I can meet you at the airport."

"Fine," she said. "Good night, Robb."

He started to say goodbye when she hung up. He was getting real fucking tired of her hanging up on him.

He stared put his phone down on a nearby shelf and stared at his desk. So neat. So organized.

Robb let out an inhuman roar and the contents of his neat as a pin desk ended up on the floor. Then a nearby shelf was emptied of its contents. Then another and another.

He stopped, breathing heavy, and pinched the bridge of his nose. No. He wasn't going to cry. He dug his hand through his hair and thought of some faceless man named Aegon touching Sansa.

His printer ended up on the floor.

He stormed out of his office before he did any more damage and went for a run to expel the rage he felt rolling through him.


	22. Chapter 21

Robb's heart was in his throat when the people from the flight Sansa and Aegon were on began filing out. He hadn't seen Sansa in almost a year. He'd barely even talked with her, and over the course of the past month while she'd been making plans to return home with her boyfriend, she had kept him abreast of new developments via text or email.

Despite her treatment of him and the message she was sending (Stay the Fuck Away, Robb), Robb still missed her. Desperately. His feelings for her overlapped to the point that sometimes he wasn't sure which ones were that of a former lover and which were those of a brother. He couldn't grab onto one without having them all follow.

He'd learned about closure enough in therapy to know that he'd never gotten closure with Sansa. They'd stopped before they even really began and then add in that they never should have started to begin with considering she was his _sister_ , and it was all just a perfect storm for Robb to have never been able to successfully move on.

Talisa, poor pretty Talisa, was evidence of that. He could barely kiss her without thinking of Sansa. He would think of how Sansa would gasp a little in his mouth when he'd start kissing her and then he would see her face and that would be it.

Now he was seconds from seeing her and they it wouldn't be alone. Forget the people all around, but she was with someone. Her _boyfriend_. Her boyfriend that she was living with. He could barely date, but Sansa was shacking up with someone.

She'd told him once that he could see her again when she was over him. Well, he was about to see her and Robb wondered if that meant she was over him. Maybe she was, but she still hated him for sending her away. She had wanted to settle down in England for fuck's sake. She'd wanted to keep continents and an ocean between them.

He saw a flash of copper hair and his heart started to thud hard in his chest. Then he saw her, her beautiful face, those stunning blue eyes and skin so fair and soft and perfect…

She was talking to someone and not even looking at him, but that didn't stop him from waving to her like a madman. "Sansa!" he hollered, and began moving towards her.

She saw him then and her lips pursed together before she broke into a smile that was a strange mix of nervous and completely fake. Robb didn't care – okay, he cared, but it wasn't going to stop him from enveloping her in his arms as soon as he was in front of her, which was exactly what he did. He didn't even care that she was holding hands with the blond next to her. "Sansa," he gasped as he engulfed her in his arms. One hand went to the back of her head. He could feel the silk of her hair against his hand and he very nearly felt like weeping. All he'd wanted to do since he'd gotten the news over Christmas last fucking year that she had tried to kill herself was hold her and never let go.

"Aww. This is such a sweet reunion," said the blond that she'd been holding hands with.

"Robb," Sansa said and pushed at him.

Robb let her go, but his eyes didn't leave her. Nor did his hands. He cupped her face in them. "How's my Sansa?"

She put her hands on his wrists and pulled his hands away from her face. "I'm fine, Robb," she said with a nervous laugh. "I want you to meet Aegon."

Ah, yes. The boyfriend. Robb looked at the blond fellow and held out his hand. "Hello, I'm Sansa's brother. Robb Stark."

Aegon smiled easily and took Robb's hand. He had a firm grip. He was handsome in a GQ model kind of way – or Californian surfer dude kind of way. "Nice to meet you, Robb," Aegon said.

"You too," Robb said. "I'd like to say I've heard a lot about you…"

Aegon chuckled. "Yes, well, our Sansa can be a bit elusive can't she?"

Our _Sansa_? Robb thought. _She's not_ your _Sansa. She's_ my _Sansa_.

"That she is," he said instead.

"So, shall we get our luggage?" Sansa asked and took Aegon's hand.

Aegon smiled at her. Robb saw fondness there. The brother part of him thought he should look at Sansa that way, the part of Robb that was jealous wanted him to cut it out.

Robb fell into step beside Sansa as they made their way to the baggage carousel. He reminded himself he could not wrap his arm around her and hold her against his side. That wasn't a brother thing to do. Plus, he knew Sansa wouldn't like it.

"Thanks ever so for coming to get us, mate," Aegon said.

"My car is being shipped or driven or something from Gram and Gramps," Sansa said. "But Aegon sold his since, ya know, steering wheel on the other side of the car and all."

"So you'll have to drive him around?" Robb asked.

"Well, not for forever," Sansa said and looked at him a bit sharply. "We're going to look for one for him."

"Can you afford one after the move and all?" Robb asked Aegon.

"I was an attorney in London, so yes," Aegon replied.

Robb said nothing. So, the man was well off _and_ handsome. Wonderful.

There was no chance for Robb to be able to talk to Sansa alone. She even insisted that Aegon take the front seat since apparently Aegon got carsick in the back.

He drove them to the realtor's office who was holding keys for their apartment. Robb thought it was risky to get an apartment they'd never even seen first-hand but when Robb offered to scope out some places for them, Sansa had never replied to him.

She even ran into the office with Aegon despite the fact that he told her she could wait in the car.

Robb then took them to their apartment and walked through the space with them. "Well, despite the fact that it needs a coat of paint and the faucet in the kitchen needs to be replaced, it's not bad," he said.

"I agree, mate," Aegon said. "Though it is rather small."

"Aegon, your apartment in London was the size of a stadium," Sansa told him. "You didn't need all that space."

"You didn't complain when you made the spare room into your yoga room."

Sansa shrugged.

"You do yoga now?" Robb asked her.

She nodded. "Yeah. I did it while I was in the hospital after…ya know, so I kept up with it."

Robb didn't know that. He didn't know all of what she did in that period because she never told him, and Gram and Gramp didn't remember everything.

"Well, I suppose we should unpack and probably go shopping and get some stuff we need," Sansa said to Aegon. She looked at Robb. "You probably have stuff to do."

 _Yeah, like fuck up my office again_ , Robb thought. _Punch a few goddamn walls._

"I want to take you guys out to dinner," he said.

"That sounds excellent," Aegon said. "We could always eat. What time?"

"Seven? That gives you a few hours to do what you need to do."

"Seven it is. Sound good, San?"

San? He called her San? It was a small thing, so why did it bother him?

"Sure," Sansa said, but Robb could tell it was anything but fine.

He left, rage rolling through him. He had never wanted to pummel something so hard in his life. This was probably a good time to hit the gym and pound on a few sandbags.

xxxxxx

Sansa locked herself in the bathroom and sat on the closed toilet lid, her head in her hands. She was shaking. Seeing Robb had again had been…well, hard seemed like a good word.

She hated how her heart raced when she saw him – she hated how even before she saw him all the way through the longest flight of her life she had been anticipating it, alternating between wanting to see her brother again and fearing it.

He looked good. Too good. And older somehow. He didn't look like he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders anymore.

He didn't look like he was carrying his shit _and_ hers. That was good. That was very good. He had taken on quite a lot with her. She should be more understanding. She shouldn't be so hard on him, so determined to shut him out of her life.

It was just that she didn't know how to be around him without remembering what they'd done… what they'd been. How she'd felt. How she feared she still felt…?

No, she had Aegon. Her boyfriend was hot and British and smart and…hot. And he loved her, and she loved him.

It was easier to keep Robb at arm's length than it was to have him close. How did she get close to him without wanting more? Just a few seconds in his arms and she already felt herself melting into a puddle and remembering what it felt like to be in Robb's arms in a very different, more intimate way.

"Why am I here?" she whispered to herself. "What am I doing?"

"Sansa, love, are you ready to head out and grab a few things?"

"Coming!" Sansa said and flushed just for good measure. She made lists in her head of what they needed. Their furniture, or rather Aegon's furniture was being shipped out to them. She only had a few meager belongings, most of it clothes.

She felt rather pathetic in that moment. Like a mooch. She supposed most of what she owned was still with her grandparents, but it wasn't as though she had much there either. She'd lost it all in the fire. She'd never lived on her own before so she'd never really accumulated much. She'd gone to London, hooked up with Aegon shortly after arriving and stayed there.

She was a vagabond. That's how she felt. She was home and yet with nothing to call her own. Christ, she was fucking Blanche DuBois relying on the kindness of others. From Robb's home to being sent to her Gram and Gramps to London with Aegon, and now back to Winterfell with Aegon.

Well, maybe Aegon would let her pick out some new sheets. Maybe a bookcase, too. Maybe she would feel better about this move if she made this space more theirs rather than just his. Maybe. Maybe not.

Her mind wandered to Robb's new place and what it might look like. When they'd lived together it had been such a bachelor pad. There hadn't been much in the way of decorations and that hadn't exactly been a priority. He'd said he felt better with his change of scenery.

Sansa didn't. She just felt conflicted and tense.

"You okay?" Aegon asked when she met with him in the kitchen.

She nodded and smiled. "Right as rain."

Aegon drew her in for a hug. "Your brother seems like a good guy."

"He is," Sansa murmured.

"I don't think he likes me much though."

"He's just protective. He's not only my big brother, but he's filling in for how my Dad would have been with any boy I brought home."

Aegon laughed. "And you quite literally brought me home."

Sansa didn't laugh. She didn't feel as though she'd brought Aegon home. She felt as though he'd brought her back instead…kicking and screaming in silence.


	23. Twenty-two

Robb knew all too well how stubborn Sansa could be. When Arya had been pissed off at someone she let you know about it. She'd never been quiet in her bull-headedness; she'd let you know flat out she wasn't going to bend. Sansa, however, had always been passive-aggressive about it. You knew she was pissed by the way she avoided you, didn't speak to you much, and then pretended that everything was fine when you called her out on it.

She was avoiding him. Over the course of the next two weeks Robb never saw Sansa without Aegon in tow. He never got a chance to get her alone. And he knew that phone calls or texts would go unanswered.

He tried to cut her some slack while she and Aegon settled in. He tried not to punch Aegon's lights out every time he thought of the other man touching Sansa. He kept trying to tell himself that it wasn't as though he could have Sansa – she was his sister. He had sent her away for a reason. To make her better and not worse as he'd feared he'd been doing. She was in a healthy (he hoped it was anyway) relationship with someone and he was sort of dating Talisa so he should be happy for her and happy for him. They were in a better place outside of the fact that she wouldn't fucking talk to him.

She had enrolled at Winterfell U to take a couple classes and was planning to apply in the fall for a yet to be declared major. Meanwhile, she got a job as a receptionist for a vet office. Aegon, the smooth-talker that he was, not to mention born under some kind of fucking lucky star, managed to land a job quickly.

One afternoon, Robb was on his way to meet Talisa at a nearby café during both of their lunch breaks. He didn't even see Talisa when he first walked in because there was Sansa, at a table against the wall reading a book. There was an empty plate before her and she was sipping either coffee or tea.

"Sansa," he said at the same time Talisa, who was a few tables away said, "Robb! Over here."

Sansa looked up at him and then over at Talisa. Her eyes narrowed just slightly and she stiffened. Then she looked back at Robb, her expression clear. She smiled and it was the fakest smile Robb had ever seen on her.

"Robb?" Talisa said.

Robb pointed at Sansa. "Talisa, this is my sister Sansa."

Talisa's eyes went wide and she looked over at Sansa who wiggled her fingers in a wave. Talisa got up and gestured to the table she was sitting at – it could fit at least four people easily. "Join us, Sansa, please," Talisa said in that engaging friendly way she had.

Sansa eased out of her chair and stood up. She grabbed her book hugged it to her chest. "I'm sorry I wish I could but I need to return to work now," she said, smiling politely. She passed by Robb without even looking at him and chirped, "Have a good lunch!"

Robb looked at Talisa. "I'll be right back. I just need to talk to her for a minute."

"Of course!"

Robb practically ran after his sister. He found her about to get in her car that had finally arrived from their grandparents a few days prior. She had her hand on the handle when Robb grabbed her arm.

She looked at him in irritation. "What the fuck, Robb?"

"Do you really have to go back to work or are you just avoiding me?" he asked.

"Not everything is about you."

"No, I forgot. It's all about you, right Sansa?"

She looked at him. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You're upset with me and I'm supposed to just take your passive aggressive silent treatment and your avoidance of me. You dictate when I can see you and when I can't, and you dictate how I see you – usually with Aegon right behind you. Or is that in front of you like some kind of shield?"

"What do you want from me?"

"I want you…to talk to me. You're angry with me and I can't fix what's broken if you don't talk to me."

"It's not your responsibility to fix me," she said softly. "It never was."

"That sounds like something my therapist would say."

She looked at him in surprise. "You're seeing a therapist?"

"I was."

"Why?"

"Why do you think?"

She looked startled, and then worried. Robb shook his head and held up his hands. "No, not that. The fire…"

She nodded, looking both relieved and sad. She looked up at the busy sidewalk with people walking to and fro. "It's not easy being here again with all the memories."

All he wanted to do was take her in his arms and hold her. He wanted to press a kiss to her temple. Wanted to nuzzle into her hair. "I miss you," he whispered. "I've done nothing but miss you." Could he admit that much? How would she take it? Would she know that he didn't just mean he missed his sister, his blood, but that he missed her as his lover? He was being selfish, something he told himself he would not do.

"Talisa is pretty," she said, her voice rising as though reminding him to remember himself.

It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her that Talisa wasn't as beautiful as a certain redhead he knew. He wanted to tell her he dreamed of her – of touching her and making love to her. Those dreams had increased since her return home. He woke up hard and aching and guilt-ridden.

"She seems nice," Sansa said when Robb kept silent.

Finally, he cleared his throat. "She is."

"Does she help? I mean, is she understanding…?"

He nodded. "Is Aegon?"

"Yes. He doesn't try to fix me and he doesn't get upset with me or ignore me when I have my bad days. He's just there for me."

Now Robb wanted to cry. He was torn between being happy that she'd found someone that could be there for her as she needed, and wanting to be the one she turned to. Wanting to be the one she still needed. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm glad."

She didn't look like she believed him.

"Can we just spend some time together, Sansa?" he asked. "Just us."

"What do you propose that we do?"

"Anything you want. Let's have lunch, let's go to a museum – anything you want."

She heaved a sigh. "Fine."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "When?"

"Geez, now you want me to come up with a time and a day—"

"Yes, because otherwise it's just lip service. This Saturday. You free? Let's go to the art museum."

She sighed and nodded, looking weary and a bit defeated. "Fine. I'll let Aegon know."

"Just us, Sansa."

"I know, Robb."

"I'll pick you up at noon."

She laughed shortly and shook her head. "Okay."

He wanted to tell her he loved her but the words were trapped in his throat. There was too much attached to those three words, too many meanings in them when it came to how he felt about Sansa.

"Go back to Talisa," she said and opened her car door.

Robb sighed and ambled onto the sidewalk. He stood there and waited until her car was out of sight before he made his way back to the café.

xxxxxxxxxx

 _Sansa's eyes fluttered open and she gasped and then moaned at the feel of Robb fingering her as she lay on her belly._

 _"_ _Do you like that, sweetheart?" he asked huskily in her ear._

 _"_ _Yes," she moaned. She rolled over onto her back and yanked him down to kiss her. She felt him hard against her stomach and she spread her legs, grasped his cock, and led him to her entrance. He thrust inside and she gasped. "Oh, fuck, yes."_

 _"_ _I've missed being inside you," he murmured and began to thrum her clit with his thumb._

 _"_ _I've missed you being there," she whispered._

 _Robb knew just how to touch her and make her come and her mouth opened in a silent 'O' as she did just that._

Sansa's eyes popped open just as she orgasmed. Wait. Had she really? The throbbing between her legs said that it sure as hell felt like she had, in fact, had an orgasm.

Her dream had felt so real, and now she felt like crying.

"You okay, babe?" Aegon asked sleepily as he rolled over and put his arm around her.

She nodded and focused on breathing evenly and not thinking about how Aegon's arm around her felt heavy and uncomfortable. He didn't curl himself around her the way Robb used to. She had always felt so safe and cherished in his arms. It was as if every part of her had to be touching every part of him.

Aegon just sort of draped his arm over her, but he didn't nestle in close like Robb used to.

 _You have a boyfriend, he has a girlfriend, you have a boyfriend, he has a girlfriend_ , she told herself over and over. _Seeing Robb tomorrow should be interesting now…_


	24. Twenty-three

**Twenty-three**

Sansa was tired in the morning, after having difficulty going back to sleep after her dream. Now, as she sat at the kitchen table reading a book while she waited for Robb, she rubbed her thighs together and shifted in her seat.

Aegon had left for the gym and to run a few errands. He'd been completely supportive of Sansa spending some time with Robb. If only he knew.

A knock on the door made Sansa jump. She got up, slipped on her coat, and grabbed her purse and then whipped open the door. Robb stood there looking gorgeous and smiling so happily at her that she just wanted to kiss him.

"I'm ready," she said.

"Okay! Let's go."

He turned and headed down the wooden stairs and Sansa followed after him, trying not to look at his ass in those jeans. Or think about how hot he looked with that blue fleece jacket on. Was it too late to say she wasn't feeling well and stay home?

Once in his car she was hit with the scent of his cologne. She rubbed her forehead.

"All right, Sansa?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, just didn't sleep well last night."

"Why?"

She shrugged. "Just one of those nights I guess."

"Are you hungry?"

"Not right now. Aegon made a big breakfast."

Was it her imagination that Robb's hands tightened around the steering wheel and his jaw clenched? They made small talk then, talking about his job and hers, plus her classes and how Aegon was adjusting to life in the United States.

Then they got to the museum and it grew awkward again.

"Which exhibit do you want to see first?" he asked her.

"Um, you choose."

"Renaissance it is then," he said with a grin as they made their way down long hallways and past rooms of art – some paintings and some sculptures. Robb glanced down at the map he'd gotten from the clerk at the desk and frowned as he looked up.

"Lost us already?" she said lightly.

He chuckled. "Yeah, I think so."

"Here, let me help," she said and snatched the map from his hand. It didn't help that he came over and stood beside her so that she could smell him and feel his arm pressed against her. Since when was a fucking _arm_ such a turn-on?

"Okay, so we just need to double back and go down that hallway," she murmured and then looked up at him. Their eyes met and his gaze dropped to her lips before he snatched the map back and grinned. "Sounds good."

Had she imagined that?

They made their way to the Renaissance paintings and then it became awkward to just stand there and look at the paintings even if that was what they were there to do. It just felt like one of them should say something. But then what could they say? They were in public, and even though the museum didn't seem particularly busy that day, some topics would be off limits.

"Something you said the other day bothered me," she began.

""What was it?" he asked as he came up beside her.

"That you couldn't fix what was broken if I didn't talk to you."

He nodded slowly. "And you said that it wasn't my job to fix you…that kind of bothered me."

She looked at him. "Why?"

He kept his gaze straight ahead. "Because I promised to take care of you when our family perished, and I didn't."

"You did. For as long as you could." She looked back that painting.

"You tried to kill yourself," he murmured and looked at her. "And then you wouldn't let me see you. You hardly spoke to me—"

"I told you why," she said softly.

He sighed heavily and raked a hand through his hair. "I don't think that was all of it. Was it?"

She didn't want to do this. Going back to that time. To that place. . .

"Let's start with why you tried to kill yourself," he said.

"I don't like to think about that time, Robb."

"But it's all I can think about because I never got any answers, Sansa."

She pursed her lips together and Robb grabbed her arm and turned her to face him. "You are the most important thing in the world to me, Sansa, The fact that you were in such pain that you tried to kill yourself…? I wasn't there, I couldn't do anything—"

"You sent me away. You sent me to a place where all I had were Gram and Gramp. Where I knew no one, where I didn't have _you_ , Robb. I needed you and _you_ sent me away. I was alone and miserable and you didn't want me."

He shook his head vehemently. "No, that's not true. I did—" He glanced around; they were still alone. He looked back at her. "I wanted you too much," he said urgently yet quietly. "And I thought I was hurting you. I thought maybe I made it worse wanting you in ways a brother shouldn't want his sister. I thought maybe I fucked up your mind, made you sick. I couldn't have you with me and not want you. I wasn't strong enough to put an end to it."

She strode away from him quickly, arms wrapped around herself. She didn't want to cry; she needed to move and gain some distance. Her skin felt tight and what she desired collided with reason and…morality? Was this a morality issue?

If he thought they were both sick then, she wondered what he'd think about her now. Was she sick? She had to be, right?

"Sansa, stop," he said from behind her, his hand on her arm.

She turned and grabbed his face and kissed him without thinking. Having him was all she'd been thinking about since even before she'd returned to Winterfell. She had known all along this was the very reason she was not ready to come back, and might have never been ready.

Robb didn't push her away. No, he kissed her back. Hungrily. Desperately. He moaned. So did she. He pushed her back, she knew not where and her back hit a wall. Wherever they were it was dark. He broke the kiss and looked at her, breathing hard. They were in some little nook, not easily seen by anyone who should pass by. There was no camera to catch them.

Robb was on her in the next instant. He kissed her so hard she was sure he would bruise her lips. When his hands went to her pants and pushed them down, hers went to his jeans and started to fumble with the snap and zipper.

Even though she knew it was coming, it still surprised her when he thrust up inside her. She gasped into his mouth. He groaned and lifted her. With her legs around his waist, Sansa rode him. He whimpered against her throat.

Because she was so ready for this, she came quickly, forcing herself not to cry out. Robb bit her shoulder as he shot inside her.

Reality slammed hard into Sansa; Robb too. He let her down, eyes wide and they quickly fixed their clothes. Sansa put her hand to her forehead and looked at him. He stared back.

"Did that really just happen?" she whispered.

"Yes," he whispered back.

"I think you should take me home now," she said.

"Are you sorry?"

"I don't know," she said honestly. "I think I'm still in shock. You?"

"I feel like I should be…"

"You sent me away to stop it," she murmured.

"I've never stopped wanting you," he whispered. He reached out and tugged on her hair gently. His hand dropped to her waist and he pulled her close and kissed her, his tongue licked inside her mouth and Sansa tunneled her fingers through his curls as she kissed him.

Voices coming closer caused them to part. Sansa tucked herself into the corner and looked at Robb sadly. "We can't do this again," she said softly.

"No," he said, but it sounded as though it pained him to say it.

There were so many things she wanted to say. She wanted to tell him this was why she hadn't wanted to see him because she didn't know how to be just his sister. Not when she had so many deeper feelings for him inside of her. How did she be a sister and be okay with him dating someone? Fucking someone else? How did she stop herself from wanting him? From finding him hot? From wanting him inside her again?She didn't know how to put any of this to rest. She was supposed to be living a happy life with Aegon. Oh, God, Aegon…

Maybe Robb had been right to send her away. He'd seen the futility of this. He saw that there was no good way for this to end. A brother and sister in love?

"I'll take you home," he said and she followed him back to the car. The drive home was met with silence. Sansa was at a loss for words. Had she really just fucked her brother in the middle of a museum? She and Aegon had never even done something so wild.

"We'll put this behind us," he said when he parked in front of her building.

Sansa clutched her purse tightly in her hand. "Yes."

"I want to be a brother to you, Sansa."

"Do you know how?" she blurted out.

He looked at her; he looked so sad. "No, but I'll learn. I won't lose you again."

She wished she could assure him that he wouldn't, but if there was one thing Sansa had learned in this life it was that nothing came with guarantees. So, she just nodded and let herself out of the car


	25. Twenty-four

How to be a brother to Sansa? That was the million dollar question. Robb knew how before their family died, and even knew how after for a while. Before the lines blurred. Before how he loved her as a brother crossed over into very different territory.

Robb didn't understand how he could have sex with Sansa and yet still not allow himself to define what it was he actually felt for her. If he admitted to himself that it was just not lust somehow _that_ was crossing the line that having sex with her had not.

Perhaps if he admitted what he felt for her he could not stay in that place where he could still change things between them. It was as though he was at a crossroads and before him were two signs. One said "Brother" and had an arrow pointing one way, and the other said "Lover" and had an arrow pointing the other way.

So, which way did he choose?

If his libido was anything to go by then it was the path of "Lover". He desired Sansa. He dreamed of her. He fantasized about her – and got pretty far into the fantasies before he told himself to cut it out. Then there was his heart and the perpetual ache he'd had in his chest since she'd left to live with their grandparents. Not having Sansa with him had been like losing a limb. He felt incomplete without her.

Then he thought about how he couldn't possibly actually be with Sansa because she was his sister and how would that ever work? God, if Uncle Edmure, Aunt Lyssa, or their grandparents ever found out…what would happen to them? How much trouble would they be in? And since he first had sex with Sansa when she a minor he could go to jail for statutory rape _on top of_ having sex with his sister.

So, it was back to being a brother. He had to be a brother.

When Aegon called him three days after the museum debacle and asked him if he would like to come over for dinner, Robb (reluctantly) agreed. This was part of being a brother. Being supportive of Sansa and her boyfriend. He could not allow his feelings for her as her (former) lover to encroach upon his duty as her older brother. His job was to ensure that Aegon treated Sansa well and that she was happy with him.

Yet it didn't stop him from feeling that burst of jealousy when Sansa answered the door and Aegon was right behind her, his hand on her shoulder. Sansa didn't look overly thrilled to have Robb there, but she smiled at him like she was supposed to and stepped aside to let him enter.

Aegon reached out to shake Robb's hand, and then asked him if he'd like a beer. Robb figured liquor might be a good idea in order to get through this evening. Aegon led him to the kitchen and Sansa followed. She was quiet though, and merely checked on dinner (pot roast).

Clearly, this dinner was geared toward Aegon getting Robb to like him. He steered Robb into the living room and started asking him about American politics, which of course Robb had extensive knowledge in and so they spent their time before dinner and during talking politics.

He learned that Aegon wasn't just a spoiled little rich boy as he'd originally pegged him to be. He was actually quite smart and thoughtful, plus he was a liberal. The "Lover" part of Robb didn't want to like Aegon, but the "Brother" part did. He seemed like a good man, and it was clear he loved Sansa. He made her smile and they shared a witty repartee in which they teased each other and made each other laugh.

It depressed the fuck out of him. What had he ever brought Sansa? What joy? Their relationship had been based on grief and sex. Had he ever made Sansa laugh? Had he ever made her smile? He'd brought her nothing but misery and even when she had clearly wanted to stay with him, he had sent her away.

With all these thoughts crashing down around him, Robb knew he had to get out of there. He made up some excuse before dessert was served that he had an article to finish that he'd forgotten about. Sansa had looked skeptical, but she didn't say anything. Robb almost wanted her to. He wanted to know that his presence was wanted by her. The reality though was, it wasn't.

She hadn't even wanted to come home.

The girl that clung to him in their bed and told him she was his; the girl who begged him to let her stay with him and cried that she couldn't be without him was gone.

Sex in the museum had been closure. It had to be. They'd dredged up the past and since neither of them had gotten any real closure, and both had felt so raw about it all for so long, the sex had been the exclamation point at the end of that chapter.

Robb had thought talking about their past in order to then heal it was what they needed. Maybe it wasn't. Maybe what they needed was to put a pin in it and move on.

Now if his heart would just get the message that this was well and truly over, that it _had_ to be…

xxxxxxx

"How do you think it went?" Aegon asked as he crawled into bed beside Sansa and stared up at the ceiling with her.

"I think it went well," she said. And it had been, she thought, until Robb had abruptly left. She had thought he and Aegon were getting along quite well, and that was troubling for Sansa in a way she didn't quite understand. Shouldn't she want her brother and her boyfriend to get along?

She wondered if that meant many more dinners together, perhaps a double date next time with Talisa? Hm. Best not mention that to Aegon or he would jump on it in his quest to win Robb over.

"Can you give me more?" Aegon asked. "Do you think he likes me now?"

Sansa didn't want to talk about Robb. She found it hard to talk about him; she also found it hard to think about him. When she thought about him she was filled with a yearning she thought might swallow her whole. The only person in the world that could bring her the comfort she needed was the one person in the world that shouldn't. Wanting to be in Robb's arms meant something very different for her than it did for most sisters who might simply want a hug from their big brother.

There was a storm inside Sansa. It had been there since their family died, and the only time it ceased was when she was in Robb's arms. It didn't even have to be sex. She was well aware of the fact that since she'd returned to Winterfell she hadn't been sleeping well and in the back of her mind she knew what would help. It was as though ever cell in her body was primed to need Robb, to want Robb.

It frustrated her to no end that she couldn't let him go.

"Babe? You ok?"

"God, Aegon, I hate it when you call me that," she hissed and whipped the covers off of her.

"Sansa!" Aegon exclaimed as she stormed out of the room. "What the hell?!"

She didn't answer him. She should have known he would come after her. She sat on the sofa – his sofa – curled up in the corner and just looked at him.

"What is wrong with you?" he asked.

"Nothing. I just don't like being called 'babe'." Not only did she despise the nickname, but it reminded her of Harry and all the shit that came with knowing that idiot.

"So you leave the bed?"

She sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm not as tired as I thought. I think I'll just watch some TV for a while."

He frowned, but then nodded, came over and kissed the top of her head, and then went back to bed.

Sansa turned on the TV, but she didn't even look at it. She stared at the floor and thought about how she didn't feel she had a place here with Aegon. The only place she'd felt she'd belonged after the fire was with Robb. When in London it was easy to forget that fact and pretend her life was stretched before her, long and full of fun and excitement there with Aegon's friends and his small family. Here in Winterfell it's not so easy. She finds it hard to pretend.

She picks up her phone sitting on the end table beside her and holds her thumb over his name in her call list. What would she even say if she called him? What could she say that was _appropriate_?

Absolutely nothing.

xxxxxx

Three days passed with no word between Robb and Sansa until the night he showed up unexpectedly. Aegon wasn't home; he was staying late at work with a few colleagues working on some major case, and Sansa was attempting to make stir-fry. She hadn't made it in quite a while, not since she and Robb lived together.

She carried the knife with her to the door when she answered it and when Robb saw it (and she's still processing that he's there), he laughed. "Do you normally answer the door with a knife in your hand?"

She looked at the knife and chortled a bit. "No, I was just about to cut up some zucchini for stir-fry when you knocked. Aegon isn't home."

She wasn't sure why she told him that. No, that's not true. She knew why. She wanted to warn him that they were alone. Yes, warn him. Because when they were alone together things happened.

Robb hesitated for a second but then he nodded and said, "Well, that's fine. I came to see you. Can I come in?"

She nodded and stepped away from the door to let him in. He closed the door behind him, she went back to the zucchini. If she kept busy she wouldn't have to look at him much, wouldn't have to dwell on the fact that he looked quite handsome in dress pants and a black v-neck sweater.

"What did you want to see me about?" she asked, keeping her eyes on the zucchini.

"I wanted to give you a key to my apartment."

Shock made her look up abruptly at him.

In hindsight, not the best move.

Her hand slipped and the knife sliced deep into her finger. "Sonofabitch!" she cried out. "Fucking hell!"

Robb's eyes went wide and he rushed over, grabbed her wrist. Sansa yanked her hand from his. "You'll get blood all over your clothes," she told him.

"I don't give a fuck about my clothes," he said in frustration and grabbed her wrist again. His eyen went even wider when he saw the cut. "Jesus Christ, Sansa."

She peered at it. "It's pretty bad, huh? It hurts like a motherfucker."

"You need stitches," he said and grabbed a dishtowel. He wrapped a bit of it around her finger and she cursed at him. He grunted an apology and wrapped the rest of the dishtowel around her hand.

"It can't be that bad," she whined.

He looked at her sternly. "Yes, it is. Let's go. Keep your hand upright."

"I don't want stitches," she continued to whine as Robb grabbed her purse for her and then pushed her out the door.

"A band-aid isn't going to cut it, Sansa, I'm sorry."

"You just had to be a political science major; you couldn't be a doctor."

He chuckled, but Sansa was not laughing. The girl that had once gone racing and bungee jumping was terrified of needles.

xxxxxx

It was probably wrong for Robb to take delight in Sansa being unwilling to let him out of her sight considering she was about to get a shot to first numb the area and then would receive the stitches. He knew his sister didn't do well with needles and so he was happy to have her hold his hand with her good one and lean into him on the hospital bed while they prepped the needle for the local anesthesia. He was even happier when she buried her face in his shoulder. He wrapped an arm about her and held her close.

"You have a nice brother," the nurse attending the doctor said. "My brother would just tell me to suck it up and would have left me here."

Sansa pulled back and looked up at him and Robb had to resist the urge to draw her back into him. It had been a very long time since she'd sought his comfort. It was nice to be needed by her. Robb wondered if that was partially his problem: he wanted Sansa to need him. It made him feel useful in her life when really, lately, all he felt was that he was an imposition in it.

She didn't lean into him again, but she did grip his hand so hard that Robb thought she might just break it.

The ride home was met with silence and when they returned to the apartment she shared with another man, Robb walked her up. She began to clean her mess and Robb helped. Neither spoke. When the kitchen was cleaned of raw vegetables and blood, they shared a sigh and just stared at one another.

Everything in Robb wanted to reach for her and pull her to him. He shoved his hands in his pockets and shuffled his feet "Did I ever make you laugh?" he asked finally.

She blinked. "What?"

"Did I ever make you laugh? Or smile? Did I ever make you happy?"

"Are those questions a brother would ask a sister?"

"I don't know anymore," he whispered.

They are saved by Aegon arriving home. Robb is forced to watch Aegon take Sansa into his arms when she told him about her stiches and held up her hand to show him the evidence of it. This was her life now. This was her boyfriend.

When Aegon mentioned all of them going on a double date it took Robb a second to remember Talisa. It was hard to remember a woman that faded into the background like the chorus when the main event was forefront in his mind. Sansa looked at him hard, sending the message that she wanted him to say no.

"Sure," Robb said instead. "When?"

* * *

How do you think that's gonna go? LOL

So, in case anyone is interested, I started a new "story". It's called "The 'I Think We're Alone Now' Universe" and it's really just a collection of one-shots set pre ITWAN or post ITWAN. I am taking prompts for any scenes someone might like to see from that 'verse.


	26. Twenty-five

**Chapter Twenty-five**

Robb wasn't sure why he agreed to the double date. He thought maybe to get himself used to the idea of Sansa being with Aegon, maybe because that's what he figured a brother would do for their sister to show support. If they were ever going to get to that point where they were siblings, just siblings, then they both had to start acting like it.

And then there was the darker part of him that wanted Sansa to see him with Talisa. If he had to be subjected to seeing her with someone else, then she should have to be subjected to the same. He felt awful and guilty for even thinking it and feeling that way, but he couldn't stop himself.

He half-expected Sansa to call him or perhaps finally come over to his apartment and see him in an attempt to talk him out of this, but she didn't. He tried not to feel disappointed about that. He knew what he wanted to happen if she did, and that was quite the opposite of what they were trying to accomplish, wasn't it? Making love to Sansa wasn't going to help their situation; it was just to exacerbate it.

So, here he was with Talisa beside him introducing her to Aegon and putting on a happy face. Sansa smiled politely as she shook Talisa's hand. "Nice to meet you again," she said with a little laugh and then slipped her arm back through Aegon's.

What would it be like if he and Sansa could be open and free like that? If they could not be siblings – or at least pretend they weren't? If they could be like any regular man and woman who fell in love and were together? What if they were in a place where no one knew they were related? Would their…relationship, for lack of a better word, had even happened if their family hadn't died? Or was it just grief that had brought them to that point?

Robb was so twisted and confused inside about that. Part of him felt that no, it wouldn't have happened at all. The other part of him, the part of him that couldn't stop wanting Sansa, felt that maybe their grief had just been the catalyst. That maybe something else down the line would have resulted in this.

But, the part that thought it would never happened otherwise and figured it was just grief and grief alone, made him wonder if it was _still_ just grief. He had healed in a lot of ways, but he knew he still had further to go and maybe, just maybe, he would find when he completely healed he would no longer need and want Sansa as much as he did.

However, did one ever completely heal from losing their family as he and Sansa had? He tended to think no.

Robb tried not to notice how beautiful Sansa looked that night. How the dress she wore clung to her curves and how the blue in it made her eyes appear almost like ice. She had curled her hair and pinned it back and Robb thought of how it would look across his pillow where he could run his fingers through it as he moved inside her.

He had to stop this.

 _Tell me, Sansa,_ he thought as he watched her peruse the non-alcoholic drink menu. _Tell me how to stop wanting you so damn much._

"Sansa, what is it you want to study in school?" Talisa asked after their drink order had been placed.

Sansa made a face – her, I don't really want to answer this question face. "I have no idea," she said. "I'm taking suggestions. Got any?"

Talisa laughed as did Sansa, and Aegon said he thought she would be a great attorney. "She's great at arguing."

"Not like you," Sansa told him with a smile. "I never knew I had such strong opinions in politics until you came along."

A laugh went around the table. Except for Robb who said, "You've never showed any interest in politics before."

Sansa shrugged. "I don't really have that much of an interest, but when Aegon feels the need to spout off I listen."

"Do you agree with everything he says?" Robb asked. "Or have you formed opinions of your own?"

Silence fell, and then Aegon – who had apparently set himself up as the one to smooth things over said, "Well, she does have her own opinions of course. Sansa is quite opinionated, but I'm sure you know that."

"I do," Robb said. He was her brother, dammit. He knew her better than anyone. Or so he thought. How much had she changed since he'd sent her away? Since she'd shut him out of her life completely?

"So, Talisa, what do you do?" Sansa asked.

 _Kudos to you, Sansa,_ Robb thought. _You are showing me exactly how a sibling should act, aren't you?_ _Well, bully for you for not being jealous._

"I was thinking, Robb, that perhaps you could teach me about what you Americans call football," Aegon said while Talisa and Sansa talked careers.

Robb took a long sip of his beer. "You want me to teach you about football?"

Aegon shrugged. "Sure. It seems to be something my co-workers are quite excited about with the Super Bowl next weekend."

Robb nodded. "Well, sure, I could teach you. We could head over to a bar and watch the game if you want."

"Why don't you come over to our place instead?"

Robb hesitated.

"What's going on?" Sansa asked, looking between Robb and Aegon.

"I invited your brother over to watch the Super Bowl with us and teach me about it," Aegon explained to her.

Sansa frowned. "Oh."

"Not a fan either?" Talisa asked.

Sansa's smile was smooth. "Not at all."

"Well, perhaps you and I could do something while they're watching football?" Talisa suggested.

Robb noticed how Sansa's smile froze momentarily, and then she nodded and said, "That would be fun! What would you like to do?"

Robb now saw the error of his ways in agreeing to "hang out" with Aegon and Sansa. Not only was it a form of cruel and unusual punishment to have to witness Sansa's relationship with another man, but now Talisa was being dragged into this madness.

He was uncomfortable, Sansa was uncomfortable, and their significant others hadn't a clue. Instead, they were immersing themselves even deeper into it. So now what? Talisa and Sansa were going to become best friends? He and Aegon were going to be fucking "bros" or some such shit? How the hell was _that_ going to work? It couldn't.

For the rest of the dinner, Sansa was quiet and any attempt to draw her attention was met with failure. When it was time to part ways, Sansa managed to evade a hug from him though she did receive one from Talisa.

"That was fun!" Talisa said as Robb drove her home.

 _Was it?_ Robb thought. He supposed to her and Aegon it may have seemed that way. It was only he and Sansa whose threshold of things they could bear had been stretched thin. "It was," he lied.

"Your sister seems a bit aloof," Talisa said.

"She can be I guess."

"I'm not criticizing or anything, just something I noticed. She got kind of quiet. I'm not sure she really wants to go out with me while you and Aegon are watching the game next weekend."

 _She doesn't_ , Robb thought. "I'm sure it'll be fine. Sansa just needs some time to get used to new people. After our family died she had a hard time opening up to others. The only one she could do that with was me. And then I sent her away…" He broke off as a deluge of emotion welled up inside him. _Oh God_ , he thought. _I fucked up. She trusted me and I broke that trust. I sent her away after promising I wouldn't._

"I know it's probably hard to think right now that it was the best thing for you to do, but it was, Robb," Talisa said. "You were both dealing with a lot and it wasn't like you had experience taking care of a teenager, not to mention a grieving one."

"You weren't there; you don't know what Sansa needed, or what I needed for that matter," Robb snapped. "I can tell you that sending her away was one of the hardest things I ever did and our relationship hasn't been the same since. I want my sister back and she won't let me in, and whatever is broken between us is between her and me not between you and her and myself."

Talisa sucked in a sharp breath. "Whoa."

Robb gripped the wheel and slowly breathed out. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you, it's just…it hasn't been easy for Sansa and I."

"No, no, I understand, I do…well. Sort of. I just rather feel that this thing with Sansa is affecting your life in other ways, Robb."

He narrowed his eyes. "How so?"

"You got an apartment with the intention that she would live with you. You have been distraught over the distance between you and her since I met you, Robb. You won't commit to me…you can't put your life on hold because your sister _might_ need you, or because she has put distance between you. Maybe you were too enmeshed and she knew it."

It was a good thing they'd gotten to Talisa's place. He couldn't hear anymore. Maybe he had put his life on hold. Maybe he had been distraught over the distance between he and Sansa, but what else could he feel when the one person he loved above all others, the one he put first before even _himself_ , wouldn't talk to him?

He needed Sansa.

He _loved_ Sansa.

He loved her so much he couldn't see straight. If he was insane, if he was sick, then so be it. He was sick. He was in love with his sister, his precious Sansa, and nothing was going to change that fact. Not Talisa, not Aegon, not what was right to do and certainly not what was wrong.

If he was going to hell for being in love with his sister then get the handbasket ready. He didn't know what he was going to do about it. He didn't know that he should, but fucking hell it just felt amazing to _finally_ admit it to himself. Just that took some of the weight off his shoulders. Now he could at least stop lying to himself and fighting off something that he was too afraid to face.

He was in love with Sansa. He didn't know when it started, but all he knew was that he'd been in love with her when they'd first started having sex and he was in love with her when she went away and in love with her the whole time she was away, and he was _still_ in love with her.

"Robb?"

Robb pulled his car in front of Talisa's building and put his car in park. He looked at her. "Yeah?"

"I crossed a line, didn't I?" she asked. "I upset you."

"Yes and no," he said. "It's true I get sensitive when it comes to Sansa. I can't help it. I feel as though I failed her and even though I have other family, she is the closest one to me and I want to bridge that gap between us. I'm sorry if you think that's me putting my life on hold, but maybe it's…maybe this just isn't working as well as we thought."

Her mouth parted and she looked as though he'd just slapped her. Her eyes welled up in tears. "Are you breaking up with me?"

 _Commit, Robb_. "Yes. I'm sorry. I think you are a wonderful person and—"

"Spare me," she said bitterly and wiped furiously at the tears in her eyes. "I need to go."

Robb didn't try to stop her. He felt bad, but…but honestly he didn't want some long drawn out scene. He sighed and was about to put his car in drive when his phone chirped. He half expected it to be Talisa blasting him over text, but it wasn't. It was Sansa asking if he was home.

His heart began to race as he typed: _I'm on my way_.

She typed back quickly: _I'll meet you there._

* * *

So, do you think they'll get into a screaming match? Have sex? Both? I really liked writing this chapter, please let me know what you thought of it!


	27. Twenty-six

When Robb got to his complex, Sansa was waiting outside for him. She'd changed; she was no longer in a dress but in yoga pants with a fleece jacket zipped up to her neck, her hands dug deep into the pockets of said jacket.

Robb was trying to calm his nerves and rioting heart. He knew what he wanted to happen when they went upstairs, he was hoping for it, but that was probably not what she was there for.

"What did you tell Aegon?" he asked when he met her at the curb.

She arched a brow. "That I was coming over here to see you. What else would I tell him?"

Good point. Why would she lie about coming over to see her _brother_? Why would she have to? Who would think anything odd about it?

"He thought it was a good idea," she added.

Robb furrowed his brow. "Why?"

"Because he noticed that I got quiet at dinner."

"So did Talisa."

"I don't understand what's happening here, Robb." She sounded annoyed.

He gestured to the door behind him. "How about we go inside first?"

She nodded and stepped aside to let him unlock the door. He stepped inside and flicked the light on and then stood to the side to let her in. He caught a whiff of her perfume and had to stop himself from reaching out and hauling her to him.

She still had her hands dug into the pockets of her jacket and he wondered if this was a defensive action. He tossed his keys on the kitchen counter and took off his winter coat.

"I don't want you to come over next weekend," she said bluntly. "And I don't want to go out with Talisa."

He folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against the counter. "Why not?"

He made the decision not to tell her about him and Talisa having broken up because frankly, he wanted to see what she'd admit if she thought they were still together.

"Don't act like you don't know why," she said warningly.

"We're brother and sister, right? Siblings spend time together, they hang out. They can even befriend the significant others of their siblings."

"Well, that's not what's going to happen. You and Aegon aren't going to become fucking bros and Talisa and I are not going to become bff's. We're not going to do everything together. Tonight was awkward as fuck and you can't tell me that it wasn't."

Robb pushed away from the counter and Sansa took a step back. "I can tell you that I think Aegon is a bit overbearing and it concerns me that he seems to think his opinions are your opinions, and you just go along with it."

"That's not the case at all. You don't know anything about my relationship with him."

"Then it seems that I should spend more time with you both so that I can learn."

She shook her head, looking at the end of her rope. Robb moved slowly closer.

"So this is your plan then to be my brother? You're going to spend a butt load of time with us? What exactly your endgame here, Robb, because it's a little strange and it feels quite wrong to involve Aegon and Talisa in this. We still haven't figured this out," she gestured between them, "And now you want to bring them into it?"

"Have you considered the fact that I spend time with you and Aegon when he asks me to do things because I want to see you?" Robb asked softly as he managed to move closer to her.

Her eyes narrowed. "You agreed to a lame double date because you wanted to spend time with me?"

"Maybe I wanted to subject you to Talisa and I just as I've had to be subjected to you and Aegon."

She glared at him. "You're sick."

He laughed without humor. "It certainly seems that way, doesn't it?" He reached out and dug one hand into her hair. He cupped the back of her head and drew her closer until their foreheads were touching. She grabbed her forearm and gripped him tightly.

"Robb, stop," she whispered. Her jaw clenched and her eyes shut tight.

"Tell me how to stop wanting you," he whispered back and nuzzled at her cheek.

"This isn't the way," she said and tugged on his arm.

"You came here to see me," he countered.

"I can't very well tell you to stop this in front of Aegon, can I?" She managed to separate herself from him. "You said you'd be a brother to me. You said you'd try. This isn't trying. And this is why we shouldn't see each other for a while." She sighed and started to turn around toward the door. He heard her mutter, "I never should have come back to Winterfell."

That sparked Robb's temper. He reached out and snagged her about the waist with his arm. He pressed her back against him and she emitted a small gasp of surprise. "Robb, what the fuck?" She tried to escape, but he moved her so that she was against the table. Her hands went flat on the table and he pressed himself against her and buried his face in her fleece-covered neck.

"You belong to me, Sansa," he whispered. "You're mine, not his, and you know it."

"Robb, no," she said, but he could hear the tremble in her voice.

"Let me love you," he rasped. He nipped at the lobe of her ear. "Let me…"

She let out a soft whimper, so soft he had to strain to hear it. But it was all the invitation he needed. He turned her in his arms and kissed her hungrily, desperately. Her hands went to his shoulders and Robb wasn't sure if she meant to push him away or draw him closer. He lifted her onto the table, his mouth not leaving hers for a second and undid the zipper of her jacket. He was ready to tear it to shreds if he had to. He pushed it over her shoulders, yanked it off her arms, and then pushed her shirt up and when her purple bra came into view he kissed the space where her heart was.

"I love you," he murmured. "And I know you love me too."

"Robb," she moaned.

He helped her take off her shirt and then undid her bra and suckled one breast into his mouth and then the next. He whined low in his throat. He was here again. He was tasting her skin, feeling her tremble under his touches, kisses, and caresses. He didn't think he was ever going to be in this position again and he wasn't going to relinquish it for anything.

He kissed his way back to her mouth and bit on her bottom lip gently, tugged on it, sucked on it, and then kissed her as though meant to devour her. And he wanted to. She gasped in his mouth and he moaned and pushed her back until she was flat on the table, her legs hanging over the edge. He lifted slowly from her body, pinning her there with his eyes looking straight into hers. Her skin was pink, her lips swollen from his claiming kisses. He rid himself of his shirt and kicked off his shoes. Then he lifted one of her legs and removed one shoe…then the other. Then her socks. Then he was pulling her pants down.

As soon as her hips were visible, Robb bent over her and kissed the center of her stomach and then down to one hip, then the next. He pulled her pants down further and when her panties were exposed – also purple – he bit gently on her pussy.

Her back arched up and Robb pulled her panties down and traced her nether lips with one finger. She was wet. Glistening.

"Such a perfect pink pussy," he said, his voice like a deep rumble. He used his middle finger to enter her and she cried out. He leaned over and suckled at her clit and she cried out again. When he felt her fingers spear through his hair he felt triumphant.

He inserted another finger inside her and licked at her nub and fucked her with his fingers until she came. She wet his face and still Robb wouldn't relent. Not until she begged him to stop. She came again with a keening cry and then tugged on his curls. He moved away from her pussy and left kisses on the soft flesh of her inner thighs.

"My beautiful Sansa," he murmured. "My sweet girl."

He rid her of her pants and panties and there she was, laid out like a feast for him. He was hard and straining against his pants and he made quick work of ridding himself of them and his boxers. She watched him through hazy eyes, her hair spread out on his table.

"Sit up for me, love," he said softly.

She held up an arm and he smiled as he helped pull her up to sitting position. Her legs were spread and his cock rubbed against her wet pussy when he moved in closer. He moaned. She twitched.

He looked at her, right in her eyes. "Do you want this?"

She swallowed and nodded.

"Put me inside you," he said huskily.

He thought he was going to die when she put her hand around his cock and stroked him. He pressed his forehead to hers and gasped, "Sansa."

Then she put him at her opening and he pushed inside her slowly. Sansa shut her eyes and moaned, "Robb."

"That's my Sansa," he murmured. "That's my sweet girl…" He began to move slowly within her depths. "Do you like this, Sansa? Do you like me inside you?"

"Yes," she whispered.

"That's my sweet Sansa," he murmured and cupped a breast in his hand as he thrust steadily inside her. He then bent his head and flicked his tongue against her nipple. She let out a whine and tunneled a hand through his hair, pressing him against her breast. He smiled against her nipple and then suckled it into his mouth. "Your skin tastes like sugar," he said against her skin. "I want to eat you right up."

He treated her other breast to the same treatment and felt her tighten around his cock. He moaned. "Oh, God, do that again, sweet girl."

He sucked deeper on her breast and she tightened around him again and again. He trailed kisses back to her mouth and claimed it, kissing her deeply. His started to move faster. Harder.

"You're mine, Sansa," he muttered. "You've always been mine. I told you before that you were mine and that hasn't changed, has it?"

She kissed him this time and he grunted, moving even harder and faster.

"Come for me," he told her and started to rub her nub with his thumb.

"Robb," she whimpered.

"That's my girl. My sweet girl. My Sansa. Come for me, come on my cock. Come on…"

She cried out and gripped his shoulders as she came. Her head went back and Robb nipped at her neck and then sucked at her collarbone. She yanked him away before he could mark her and something primal in him sparked.

"You're _mine_ , Sansa," he growled. " _Mine_."

She kissed him again and this time he was pretty sure it was to shut him up. He didn't care though. It was his cock she'd just come on, not Aegon's. He gripped her hips as he pounded inside her and she gasped and came again.

"Fuck yes, yes, Sansa, just like that. Milk my cock, take it, sweet girl. Take all of me, fuck yes!" He came long and hard inside her, his fingers digging into her hips to keep her still, keep her close as he filled her with his seed. He chanted her name like a prayer until he came down from his high. He pulled back enough to look at her and she looked up at him, looking almost…resigned. And sad.

He took her face in his hands and kissed her. "I love you, Sansa, do you hear me? I love you."

"Robb—"

"I'm in love with you, do you hear me? I'm _in love_ with you."


	28. Twenty-seven

**Chapter Twenty-seven**

Sansa put her hands on Robb's. "You can't be," she said. "You're not."

"I am," he insisted. "All this time I've tried to fight it and deny it…not admit it to myself. I can't do that anymore, Sansa. It's tearing me up inside not being honest with myself and not being honest with you. If I'm going to burn in hell for being in love with my sister then so be it."

"Why are you doing this?" she whispered.

"It's harder to keep fighting it than it is to just admit it."

She pushed him away from her and started snatching up her clothes and shoving them on. Robb grabbed his boxers and his pants and put them on.

When Sansa was dressed she looked at him, hands on her hips. "You decide that you're doing me more harm than good and you send me away. You badger me about wanting to come out and see me at Gramp and Gramps because you want to see me and not because you want to give me any time to heal—"

"You tried to kill yourself, Sansa! I wanted to help you!"

"You wanted to absolve yourself of the guilt you felt because you left me all alone and may as well have put that pill bottle in my hands yourself," she spat.

Robb stepped back as though she'd hit him. His jaw went slack as though he wanted to say something but couldn't get the words out.

"And then you don't leave me alone when I come back to this godforsaken town, and when _you_ decide that you love me and just can't hide it or deny it any longer, you just _have_ to tell me. I have a boyfriend. I live with him—"

"You were the one that reached for me at the museum, Sansa," he said accusingly. "You were the one that kissed me. Let's not forget how this started—"

"I'm ending it!" she shouted.

He was on her in two steps, gripping her arms. "You came here tonight, Sansa. You came here _in person_ to tell me something you could have told me over the phone. Why?"

"I told you—"

"No! You knew that if you came here us making love was a possibility and you _wanted_ it to happen."

"No, I—"

"Stop lying!"

She freed her arms from his grasp and hit him in the chest. Once. Twice. "I hate you! How's that for some truth?" she shouted at him him. "I hate you!"

"Hit me, sweetheart. Hit me all you want, I can take it."

She slapped him across the face. "I am _not_ your sweetheart." She stepped back and put her hand to her mouth, horrified at the fact that she'd just been hitting him like that.

Robb reached for her and she shook her head and grabbed her jacket.

"Sansa, don't go," Robb said urgently and reached for her again.

Sansa practically sprinted out the door, disgusted with herself for acting like such a maniac – for hitting him as she did. How could she do that? What was wrong with her? All that rage inside her…

She'd been able to shove it aside in England. She'd been away from Robb, her grandparents and aunt and uncle. She'd devoted herself to having fun and putting all the rest behind her.

Why the fuck had she come back? Why had she let Aegon convince her this was a good thing to do? Now she'd cheated on him twice and with her own fucking brother. Jesus Christ, what the fuck was _wrong_ with her? How did she make this madness stop? Why did she find it so fucking hard to resist him? Shouldn't she have more willpower considering he was her _brother_?

Tears streamed down her face and she knew she couldn't go home to Aegon like this. She had to calm down and get herself together. She'd just go for a ride. She'd…go to that street she and Harry used to race down.

xxxxxxxx

In the end Sansa hadn't raced. She'd been tempted, but she didn't do it. Perhaps that meant she'd grown up some? She certainly didn't feel like she had. She felt more adult in London than she did in Winterfell. At least she could breathe a little easier in London. Here she just felt as though she was suffocating.

She'd let herself into the apartment she shared with Aegon and had taken a shower. It wouldn't do to smell like Robb and sex. Afterwards she'd gone to lay on the couch. Aegon was dead to the world. God, she wished she could sleep like that. The only time she'd ever slept that well was when – okay, nope, she wasn't going down that road again.

She lay on the couch for a long time before she fell asleep just trying to sort out her feelings for Robb. The problem wasn't that she didn't know what she felt for him, the problem was that she didn't want to feel what she did. She wanted those feelings gone. She wanted to wake up in the morning and think of Robb as just her brother.

It pissed her off that he fucking _sent her away_ to stop this thing between them because he'd thought he'd been hurting her and now had decided – well, that doesn't matter! Fuck him. (Oh, wait, she'd already done that). He had no idea what he'd put her through by sending her away like that. Putting her with two elderly grandparents who could barely hear and had set her up with a therapist practically as soon as she walked in the door _on top of_ starting a new school _on top of_ being in a new fucking state _on top of_ feeling as though Robb had just utterly rejected her _on top of_ the grief she'd still been grappling with.

Just thinking about it made her want to die all over again.

She'd worked so hard to deal with her family's death and she had dealt with it. And healed, for the most part. Then she'd still had the very real broken heart of feeling as though Robb had abandoned her.

Having never had a broken heart due to the loss of a boyfriend, it was odd for Sansa to experience that about her own brother. It disturbed her that things had gotten to the point that she knew she was in love with him. She'd never been in love before, but she didn't know how else to describe what she felt. It was like a gaping wound in her heart that kept on bleeding. And after she'd been able to deal with her family being dead and gone, she was able to recognize the "Robb-ache" as something different. That's how she'd known it had been love she felt for him.

Looking back on their relationship, she knew there had been a co-dependency there. Namely because her therapist had told her there was. Granted, her therapist didn't know just how deep that dependency had gone…so yeah, there was definite co-dependency and she supposed she didn't really need a therapist to tell her that.

But, the thing was, she hadn't cared. She hadn't cared about any of it. All she'd wanted was Robb with her always. But then time away from Robb had begun to make her feel dirty for feeling as she did. Robb had known there was something wrong with it and that's why he'd sent her away, but she hadn't cared so she had to be sick, right?

So there were two emotions running through her: the part that felt abandoned by the man she loved and the part that thought she must truly be broken to have fallen in love with her brother.

It wasn't as though a relationship between them could work. They could be arrested for it. It wasn't as if the family they had left would accept them. How could they? They would see them as abominations.

And now Robb wanted to change all that?

 _I just want to be normal_ , she thought and curled herself into fetal position. _Help me, someone, please. I just want to be normal. I don't want to be the girl that lost her family in a fire. I don't want to be the girl that tried to kill herself, and I don't want to be in love with my brother. I just want to be normal. Please._

She repeated the words over and over like a prayer until she fell into a fitful sleep.

xxxxxxx

"Well, your brother isn't coming over to watch the Super Bowl," Aegon said Saturday evening. "He just sent me a text and said something 'came up'." He put his phone down on the couch next to him and looked over at Sansa who was sitting at the desk in the corner of the living room doing her homework.

Sansa resisted the urge to sigh with utter relief. Ever since she'd left Robb's after having sex and then attacking him like a wild animal, he had left her alone. She kept expecting him to show up at any minute and so she never really was able to relax quite enough, but so far it had been a week and this was the first time she'd heard anything from him, and not even to her directly.

"Sorry, honey," she said.

"So, how did things go when you went to see him last week exactly?"

She stopped reading and looked over her shoulder. "I said they went fine."

"I don't believe you."

She sighed. "What do you want me to say?"

"The truth maybe? Did you guys argue? Is that why he's not coming over now?"

Sansa turned the swivel she was sitting in around so she was facing Aegon directly. "Can you explain to me exactly what your obsession is with my brother? You have been practically up his ass since we got here. What the hell, Aegon? Do you want to date him or something?"

"I want him to like me."

"Why?" she demanded angrily. "Is this all about your need to be liked by everyone, or is there just something so special about my brother that you just need to have his stamp of approval?"

Aegon's jaw clenched. He was annoyed. She didn't care. He got up and stormed out of the room and Sansa shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she muttered and went back to her homework.

A minute later a black velvet box dropped onto her book. She opened her mouth to ask him what the fuck it was, but then she knew exactly what the fuck it was.

"That's why I want your brother to like me," Aegon said behind her. "It's customary to ask the father of the woman you want to marry for their consent. I can't ask your father, so I have to ask Robb. It'd be easier to ask him if I could marry his little sister if he liked me."

Sansa just stared at the box. She couldn't think. Could barely even breathe.

Aegon snapped up the box and Sansa stared at the spot it'd been in. Then Aegon turned her chair so that she was facing him. He was down on one knee with the ring box open. A sparkling diamond with two sapphires on each side winked at her.

"Sansa Stark," Aegon said with a shaky voice. "Will you marry me?"


	29. Twenty-eight

Sansa had heard the expression "struck dumb" before and thought that this might be the first time she fit the expression. She actually wondered if there was a way for her to get up and run off and convince Aegon that this had not happened and that he'd imagined it. Could she, in fact, rewind time?

"Sansa?" Aegon said.

 _I'm sorry_ , she thought, _Sansa's brain is exploding right now. She'll get back to you at her earliest convenience._

Aegon snapped the box closed and got to his feet. "So that's not how I imagined this happening."

Sansa jumped up. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I – I didn't expect it. You caught me off guard."

He looked at her incredulously. "Sansa, we live together. I moved out here to the States – to your hometown for you—"

She held up her finger and twitched it from side to side. "Oh, no. No, no. You did not move here for _me_ , Aegon, because I didn't even want to move back here."

He waved a dismissive hand. "Semantics."

"Oh, no. No, no. Not semantics. I want to be very clear about what happened. You said you wanted to move to the States and 'give it a try', and I said I did not want that. Cut to weeks of you pleading your case as if we were in fucking court and me not having much of a choice."

"You always have a choice."

She threw up her arms in frustration. "Have you ever tried to argue with you?! It's like arguing with the sun! You don't give up until you get your way. I don't mind a good argument now and then, Aegon, but I'd sure as fuck like to win a few! I gave in to this because you convinced me that I had some 'ghosts' to put to rest or some such shit. The ghosts can go fuck themselves, Aegon, and frankly I don't know what ghosts you even mean."

"Your brother to name one. You've been pissed off at him since I met you. I thought you'd also want to get some closure regarding your family passing on. Maybe visit your old house, see some old friends—"

"And I told you that I had shitty friends. No, Aegon, you didn't want to come here because you thought it would benefit me, you wanted to come to the States because that's just what you wanted to do. I went along with it because I'm…because I'm fucking stupid."

He looked hurt. "Not because you love me?"

She folded her arms across her chest. "I hate being here."

He sighed and raked a hand through his hair. "Sansa, whether you want to admit it or face it, you do have things here that you clearly need to put to rest. I'm not stupid, you know. Don't think I haven't noticed how angry you've been since we arrived. Regardless of whether you want to be here or not I think you need to be to get some closure. I want this relationship to move forward, and I want _you_ to move forward."

"How is proposing helping me move forward exactly?"

"I want to help you with whatever it is you need to do to get past the things that have caused you pain. If you need someone to lean on while you do it, I'm there. If you need a shoulder to cry on, you can have mine. Marriage means we start a life _together_. I proposed because I love you and I want to spend my life with you. I wanted you to have that assurance that I'm not going anywhere. I'm here for the long haul. I thought if you had that pledge from me," He held up the ring box, "This token, if you will, you'd feel more confident in doing what you needed to do to move past the things you're holding onto."

"And if I don't?"

He cocked his head to the side. "Do you really want to continue holding on to the things that pain you? Does that sound like a good idea to you?"

She pointed at him. "Don't do that. I hate it when you do that!"

He looked at her as though she'd gone crazy. "What did I do?"

"You did that thing where you ask me a question and frame it like I'd be nuts to answer any other way but no. Well, what if I want to hold on to all of that crap? What if I want to burrow right into the pain? What if I want to have fucking sex with it?"

"So then are you telling me no, you don't want to marry me? Are you telling me that this relationship is not as serious for you as it is for me? Is that what you're telling me, Sansa?"

"Don't put words in my mouth."

"Then what do you want from me?"

She didn't want anything from him at all. What she wanted could only come from herself and Robb. It was no wonder she felt as though she was spinning her wheels. Robb wouldn't set her free and since she kept going back for more, she was chaining herself to him and allowing his hold on her to grow.

She hated that Aegon was right. She did need to move forward. But she was real tired of feeling like she had no control over her life. Robb couldn't just let her be, not for long anyway, and Aegon liked to tell her what to do in his Aegon I'm-not-really-going-to-tell-you-what-you-should-do-but-I-am-going-to-make-sure-you-arrive-at-the-same-conclusion way.

"I need time," she said.

He nodded slowly as though processing that. "Time. You need time."

"Yes. I need to think." _I need to think about what I want_ , she thought. _Where I want my life to go. What I need, not what you need, and not what Robb needs._

"Are we…still together?"

"I…guess?"

"That sounded promising," he muttered.

"I'm sorry. Yes, we are, I just need…some space is all."

"Space in that you…want me to sleep on the couch for a while?"

She felt silly saying yes, but… "Yes."

He nodded and looked down. He rubbed the back of his neck, an agitated gesture. "Okay."

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm not saying no I won't marry you. I'm just…as much as I hate to admit you're right, I need to put some things to rest. And I need time to do that. Being here has dredged up a lot of stuff that is just hard for me to deal with."

"I'm here for you, Sansa. You can rely on me, you know. That's what being in a relationship means. That's what being committed to one another means. Can you let me in a little? Let me help?"

She welled up in tears, frustrated because there were things that Aegon could not help with at all. Things he couldn't know about. Things that only she and Robb could know about. And those were the things that no one but Robb could help with and he made it all worse by telling her he was in love with her. "I'll try," she said, and her voice cracked.

Aegon drew her into his arms and Sansa sank into him, wishing she could unburden herself.

"I didn't expect that you'd need a break like this from me," he murmured. "But I get it…I think. You haven't been yourself since we got here. If time is what you need, then time is what you'll have."

Now she felt awful. She went to him and put her hands on either side of his face. "I do love you, Aegon." She did love him, in her own way. It just didn't compare to how she loved Robb, and that was the problem. She kissed him softly. "You don't have to sleep on the couch. I think I'd like for you to hold me."

He leaned in and kissed her. "Then that's what I'll do." He kissed her again and then walked away. Sansa could see he had tears in his eyes and she felt awful for it. She didn't want to hurt him. It was the last thing she wanted to do, and yet she'd hurt him in ways already he couldn't ever know about.

xxxxxxx

The last person Robb expected to show up at his door was Aegon.

"Is Sansa okay?" he asked immediately. His first thought, as always was of her. Lately it felt as though his only thought was of her. It'd been over a week since he'd seen or heard from her and needless to say he wasn't doing well.

He wasn't eating, he was having trouble sleeping, and he was having difficulty concentrating. Sansa was close by, and yet she may as well be across the pond for the distance between them. He didn't know what to do for her or for them. He hoped that she would eventually come to him, but it was nearing two weeks now and she hadn't. He was at his wits end and it wasn't a good feeling. Now Aegon was standing before him looking somber and it worried Robb.

"Sansa is fine. Physically anyway," Aegon said. "Can I come in?"

Robb stepped to the side. Now he wondered if Sansa had said something to Aegon about them. She wouldn't do that though, would she?

"Do you want something to drink?" Robb asked.

"Uh, water would be fine."

Robb nodded and set about getting them both glasses of water while Aegon sat at his kitchen table. "What's going on?" Robb asked.

"I asked Sansa to marry me."

The glass in Robb's hand slipped and fell into the sink and shattered. Aegon jumped up to make sure he was all right and help him clean it up. Aegon spoke and Robb heard nothing. Sansa…married? _His_ Sansa?

"Did she say yes?" Robb asked, forcing himself to sound normal. He felt anything but. There was a ringing in his ears and he felt almost as though he was outside of himself in this moment.

"She said she had to think about it," Aegon told him and threw some glass shards in the trash. "I wanted to ask you first before I asked her, but she and I got into a bit of a row over you so it just ended up coming out."

Robb didn't even bother picking up any shards of glass; his hands were shaking. "What was the row about exactly?"

Aegon threw more shards in the trash. "She claimed I had an obsession with you," he said with a laugh. "I asked her exactly how things went when she came to see you after that double date. I got the feeling things didn't go well considering she slept on the couch that night."

"She did?"

Aegon nodded.

 _Guilt, Sansa? Or something else?_ Robb wondered.

"She's been off since we got here," Aegon continued. "I thought coming here would be good for her to put some things behind her, but she's been on edge and I don't know how to help her. She is not all that great at letting me in. I came here to see if you could maybe tell me your side of the story of what happened between you to make her so angry?"

Robb sighed and raked a hand through his hair. He was torn between wanting to help Sansa, and not wanting to hurt her more than he already had. If he told Aegon the truth – leaving out how they'd been sleeping together – would she see it as a betrayal? He had so many things against him in her eyes as it was, could he really afford one more?

"What did she tell you?" he finally asked.

"She told me that someone she thought was a friend told you she'd been racing and that you sent her to live with your grandparents because it scared you."

"It did," Robb replied. "Scare me, I mean. She was self-destructing and I thought maybe I wasn't helping her and maybe I wasn't as equipped as I thought to help her through her grief."

"Well, you were grieving, too."

"Yes," Robb said with a nod. "It wasn't an easy time for Sansa and I. We depended on each other. Probably too much."

"She said that you guys were co-dependent."

Robb nodded. He supposed one could say that. His therapist had, too. Now he saw it a bit differently. He'd been in love with her then just as he was now.

The glass cleared away, Aegon leaned against the counter facing Robb. "What can I do to help her? Help you?"

"Have you asked her how you can help?"

"She doesn't know. She just said she needed time."

"Then I guess you give her time."

Aegon looked at him in frustration. "That's it? That's all you've got for me?"

"She's not exactly letting me in either, Aegon. Sansa is stubborn, I'm sure you've figured that out. And since our family died she's kept things closer to her chest. She had a lot of…anger. And guilt. She wouldn't really talk to me since she went to live with our grandparents. She shut me out, and I don't…I don't blame her. I know she felt betrayed by me. She trusted me and I let her down. I sent her off without asking her, without talking about it because I was just so damn scared for her…"

Robb shut his eyes and heaved a sigh. He didn't want to cry in front of Aegon, but God, he felt as though his world was crumbling around him. He feared losing Sansa but he didn't know how to keep her either. How was he going to live without her if she accepted Aegon's proposal? How was he going to fix this gulf between them? Did he let her go or fight for her? What was better for her peace of mind?

"I'm sorry," Aegon said softly. "I didn't mean to dredge up a whole bunch of shit for you."

"It's fine. You…you really love her?"

Aegon nodded. "I do."

"I'm glad. Sansa deserves to be loved and cherished. Do you? Cherish her, I mean?"

Aegon smiled. "Yes."

"Good."

Aegon held out his hand and Robb shook it. "Thanks, Robb."

Robb nodded. "I didn't do much, but you're welcome."

After Aegon left, Robb sat down and buried his head in his hands and had himself a good cry.


	30. Twenty-nine

Robb felt at a loss. He didn't know what to do. Did he go to Sansa? Did he leave her alone? He was terrified of her accepting Aegon's proposal. What would he do then? How could he watch her be married to someone for the rest of his life?

And yet, this limbo was killing him. This separation was killing him. His very soul was crying out for her. Did hers cry out for him? He couldn't be alone in this, could he? Had he managed to ruin everything completely?

Then, one evening, three days after Aegon had visited him, Sansa showed up at his door.

"Sansa," he whispered. He didn't know what to do or say. So he just stood there and stared at her. She was dressed all bundled up in a coat, scarf, hat, and gloves.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" she asked.

He blinked. "You want to go for a walk?"

She nodded. "It's not so bad out. Actually kind of mild."

All right then. If Sansa wanted to go for a walk, then Robb was going for walk. He threw on a coat and a scarf and met her outside.

Robb decided that he would he let her navigate the path they were to take. Not just in walking, but in conversation as well. He would let her dictate how this went and where it went. She didn't say a word for so long he wondered if she would. Then she finally asked how work was.

"It's fine," he said. "Busy. How's school?"

"Good. It keeps me busy. I like busy. I still don't know what I want to declare for a major."

"You'll figure it out," Robb told her. "Just take what interests you and see where it leads you."

Silence fell and on they walked until Sansa made the loop back to his apartment. "Good night, Robb," she said when they'd returned.

"Good night, Sansa," he said and wondered what the hell that was all about.

She came back the next two nights and it was the same thing. Just a walk. Little conversation. Robb didn't know what her plan was, or even if she had one, and he didn't dare ask about Aegon's proposal. He wasn't even sure he was supposed to know. He just wished he knew what Sansa was thinking. However, despite the strangeness of just walking with her and not talking about the things between them that needed working out, it was just nice to be with her. To have her presence by his side. She hadn't completely cut him out and he took comfort in that.

xxxxxx

Sansa didn't know what she was doing. She still didn't know what to do regarding Aegon's proposal. Her first instinct had been to run away; to go straight back to the UK and stay there where she could pretend Aegon hadn't proposed and offered her a normal life.

Where she could pretend that she didn't need Robb anymore, and didn't still want him and love him.

She wished it was simple. She wished it was like the movies where she decided she loved someone, told them, they reciprocated, and that was the end of the story. But it wasn't. Because Robb was her brother and she had no business feeling this way for him.

Yet she couldn't stay away. When their family had died, he was her source of strength. That hadn't changed, despite how angry and hurt she'd been. He was still her strength, and walking with him helped her. She just needed to be near him, and she didn't know how to just tell him that. She didn't want to talk about Aegon and their past. She didn't want to talk about any of that. She just wanted to keep things simple and easy and basic. It was all she could handle.

So, she walked with him, gaining strength from his presence beside her. She knew he was confused, she knew he didn't understand it, but she was afraid to tell him why she needed this because it would just lead to more talking and she didn't want more talking.

It was bad enough that she could feel the weight of Aegon's stares at home. He wanted to crawl inside her head. He wanted to learn the things she kept close to her chest.

She was having trouble sleeping lately, too. Truth be told, she had never slept as well as she had when she and Robb had shared a bed together. She wanted the comfort of that again, but she didn't want all that went with sleeping with him. She didn't want sex; she wanted comfort and simplicity.

She thought about sleeping in his bed while he wasn't there. She had a key now; he'd given it to her the night she'd sliced her finger open. He was at work during the day. She knew his schedule because he'd told her. She could just slip in and have a nap on his bed.

 _No, Sansa, that's weird_ , she thought.

Yet it was enticing. In his bed surrounded by his scent…

Once the thought was there she couldn't shake it.

So, one afternoon she called in sick to work and blew off classes for the day. She went to Robb's apartment mid-morning and though her heart was racing and she trembled with nerves, she made her way to his bedroom, kicked off her shoes and peeled off her jacket and scarf, and crawled onto his bed. She burrowed under the covers and buried her face in his pillow. It smelled like him and that was just what she wanted. She felt a bit like a teenager again when she'd fake being sick just so she could stay home from school. There was that sense of getting away with something and possibly getting caught and in trouble for it.

But, Robb was gone for another 5 hours so if she just slept for a few…

She yawned. It was already working. Her racing heart calmed. Her body relaxed. And with Robb's scent surrounding her, Sansa felt the comfort of his presence enough to feel at home. Within minutes, she was fast asleep.

xxxxxxxx

Robb stared at his bed with Sansa in it. He blinked. Yep. She was there. Sleeping in his bed, burrowed deep under the covers.

He didn't know what to do. Let her sleep? Wake her up? How long had this been going on? He took a chance and lay down next to her (he'd kicked his shoes off and discarded his coat in the kitchen). He didn't dare take her in his arms. He lay there and looked at her for a long while and then said her name softly.

Finally, she opened her eyes and when she saw him her eyes went wide and she sat up and looked at his alarm clock. "You're not supposed to be home for another three hours!"

He laughed. "I'm sorry? Did I ruin your…" He gestured to her and the bed. "Napping plans?"

She sighed and laid back down with a sigh. "I haven't been sleeping well lately and the only time I really ever slept well was here in your bed. I just needed some rest." She looked at him worriedly. "I'm sorry. I should have called or…I just…I can't sleep."

She looked about ready to cry and so Robb took a chance and scooted closer to her. He wrapped an arm around her and kissed her forehead. "It's okay, swee—Sansa. You can sleep here whenever you want."

He wanted to ask why she wasn't sleeping (though he had a pretty good idea). What was she thinking? Feeling? What could he do to help besides offer up his bed? Did she realize that sleeping in his bed like this meant something? _What did this mean?_

He kissed her forehead again and started to move off the bed. "I'll let you sleep."

She grabbed at his shirt and looked up at him. "Will you stay with me a while?"

"Of course," he whispered and got under the covers with her. She cuddled into him, nestling her head under his chin. Robb shut his eyes and thought about how he hadn't slept so well without her beside him.

It didn't take long for him to fall into slumber with her, wrapped up in her scent and the warmth of her body.


	31. Thirty

"Have you been by the house?" Sansa asked later that evening while she and Robb ate the pizza they'd ordered after their nap.

"I haven't," he replied. "I have thought about it, but I could never make myself go. I hear they're building a new house there. Have you stopped by?"

"No," she murmured. "But I've been thinking about it. I'm not sure how I feel about a new house going there, but I guess it makes sense."

"If you want to go, I'd go with you. It feels like something we should do together, doesn't it?"

She nodded. "Maybe tomorrow?"

He laughed a little. "No time like the present, huh?"

"Well, it just seems like something that we could easily put off, ya know? So yeah, I guess no time like the present."

Robb watched her munch on another slice of pizza and wondered if he should bring up Aegon stopping by and the engagement, or if he should just wait for her to bring it up. He was loathe to do anything that might shatter whatever it was they were building. Or rebuilding. He wasn't sure which it was.

"Thank you for not being too weirded out when you found me in your bed," she said softly. "Before everything else you were my comfort. My only comfort. And I guess I…I guess I was really missing that part."

"I'm always here for you, Sansa. No matter what happens I will always be here for you." _Or die trying, because if you accept Aegon's proposal I think I will want to die._

She sighed and looked up at the clock on the wall. "I guess I should go. I'm sure Aegon will wonder where I am."

Robb nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'll come by around six and we'll go to the house?"

He nodded again. "Sure."

She picked up her paper plate and tossed it in the trash along with her paper napkin. She grabbed her coat and scarf and shoved them on and then stood in front of the door and just stared at it.

"Sansa?" Robb questioned.

She looked over at him and smiled somewhat thinly. It hit Robb then what the problem was. She didn't want to go. She wanted to stay with him. She sighed and then wiggled her fingers in a wave and he waved back, and then she was gone.

xxxxxxx

"Where were you today?" Aegon asked when Sansa had returned home. "I tried calling you at lunch and your work said you called out. Are you all right?"

Sansa nodded as she peeled off her coat and scarf and hung them by the door. "I spent the day with Robb."

Aegon looked surprised and then encouraged. "Oh?"

She nodded. "Yeah, we hung out." _We slept. And it was glorious._

"Do anything in particular or just go on one really long walk together?"

"No, we didn't do anything in particular." Despite the fact that she knew she was lying to Aegon, for once Sansa didn't care. At all. How could she regret getting some fucking sleep? It was needed. Robb was needed.

She missed him already.

Aegon drew her in for a hug and Sansa hugged him back. "I'm glad you spent time with your brother," he said.

 _Now_ she felt guilty. Because she knew, in a sense, that by seeing Robb that afternoon she had cheated on Aegon.

The answer to his proposal was obvious. Sansa knew her answer. She'd known it from the start. She was just afraid of what it meant when she gave it.

xxxxxxx

Robb and Sansa stood side-by-side the following evening, leaning against his car and looking up at the bare bones of a house that looked nothing like the one that had been there. Both their arms were folded across their chests as they studied the new structure.

"Do you think it's better or worse that it looks nothing like our old house?" Sansa asked.

"I think…better. And worse."

She nodded in agreement.

"On the one hand, it not looking like our old house makes it seem…"

"Final?" Sansa supplied.

"Yes, and while that hurts like a bitch, if it looked like our old house it would make it that much harder to let go."

Sansa nodded and leaned into Robb, placing her head on his shoulder. Her arms remained folded.

"Robb? Sansa? Is that you?"

Sansa froze at the sound of the voice that cut through the winter air. Robb looked over his shoulder. Sansa didn't.

"Hi, Asha," Robb said slowly.

"How are you?" Asha asked as she came around the car from the sidewalk and stepped in front of them both.

Robb put his arm around Sansa. "We're fine."

Sansa moved out of Robb's arms and walked around to the passenger door and climbed in. She had no desire at all to speak with Asha Greyjoy. If Asha had kept her mouth shut, Robb would have never sent her away.

She couldn't really make out what Robb and Asha said to each other after that, but it didn't take long for Robb to climb in the car and start it up. He sat there with her in silence for a few while the car heated up.

Sansa wanted to know what he was thinking and at the same time, didn't. The air felt thick with all the things she felt Robb wanted to say, but didn't. Or was that her projecting out all she wanted to say, but didn't?

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and said, "I hate her. I know I shouldn't, but I do. I know, logically, that she thought she was doing the right thing. She didn't know the chain of events her calling you and telling you about Harry would cause. Shit, I didn't even think it would go as far as it did, but it did and I can't help but blame her for that."

Robb did his contemplative Robb thing where he sat and just processed, a thoughtful expression on his face. It drove Sansa nuts. So, she kept talking. "I know you sent me away because you thought you were doing me more harm than good. You thought I was self-destructing and that I was using you to do it. I was self-destructing, Robb, but I wasn't using you to do it. You were the only thing that kept me sane. When you sent me away it was like…it was like I'd lost them all again only this time I didn't have you there. I was in a new state, a new school, a new house…" She started to cry. "I was all alone and you weren't there."

Robb gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. "I did what I thought was best at the time, and trust me, not a day goes that I don't regret it. I missed you so much I almost went to get you before you even got to the airport. It was like the air was sucked out of the apartment without you there." He shut his eyes and tears rolled down his cheeks. "I don't know if you'll ever forgive me." He turned toward her and took her hands. He gripped them hard and kissed them. "I'm sorry, Sansa. I'm so sorry."

"So am I," she said, her voice cracking. "I know I didn't make it easy by pushing you away. I was just so angry and my heart was…"

"Broken," he whispered. "Mine too."

"Believe it or not sometimes I think it was for the best," she said. "I go back and forth." She stopped then, not wanting to get into the territory of what they'd been doing with each other. That was scratching too close at things Sansa wasn't ready to deal with yet.

Seeing the house, seeing Asha, this conversation – it was enough for now.

"Can we go back now?" she asked softly.

Robb nodded and turned back around. He wiped at his eyes, put the car in park, and silently they rode back to his apartment where her car was.

Once at his place, they climbed out of the car at the same time and Robb walked with her to her car. Before she got in, she threw her arms around him in a fierce hug. She wanted to tell him she loved him, but she didn't know how to tell him that when she said it this time it was that she loved him as her brother. She loved him the other way, too, but the fact was those two feelings were so intermingled she felt she couldn't say it at all.

Robb put his hand at the back of her head, holding her securely against him and making her feel loved and safe. He kissed her forehead and released her and Sansa got in her car and left.

She felt as though part of their past had been laid to rest that night. It was actually the first time in a long time that she'd felt some part of her grief and all the bad feelings she'd had for Robb had fled. It made her hopeful.

And it made her wonder what came after that.


	32. Thirty-one

"So, you know Marcia Lapointe," Sansa said to Robb a few days later when she visited him so he could read over one of her papers for English.

They were in his office, and she was straddling one of his chairs backwards while he sat behind his desk. He had a red pen in hand and, thankfully, hadn't made too many notations on her paper.

He looked up at her as though she had seven heads. "She's only my favorite journalist, yes, I know who she is."

Sansa grinned. "Yeah, I know. That's why I got us two tickets to see her Friday night. She's giving a talk at the school. I remember how you followed her in high school and college, so…"

"Seriously, she's going to be at the university?"

Sansa smiled even wider. She loved seeing him so excited about something. "Yes, she's going to be there. You are free, right? I know I should have called or whatever, but I didn't want the tickets to sell out since all the journalism nerds are chomping at the bit—"

"Hey, I'm a journalism nerd."

"Yeah, I know," she said with a grin. "So, can you make it?"

He laughed and nodded. "Yes, I can. What do I owe you for the ticket?"

"Nothing. Consider it a belated Christmas present or something."

"What time?"

"Well, it's at seven. But I thought maybe we could get dinner first if you want."

He smiled. "I'd like that."

Her belly fluttered as he continued to look at her and then she pointed to her paper and said, "So? Does it suck?"

He looked down at her paper and began to go over the marks he'd made on it and Sansa found it difficult to concentrate. He was just... well, he was just so _pretty._

She made herself feel better with all the time she'd been spending time with Robb by thinking of how Aegon had been working hard at the office with a few colleagues on some deposition. He'd come home late, tired and ready to collapse, and he'd ask her about her day while they lay in bed. She told him about her and Robb visiting the site of their old house. She told him about how they went for walks and how their relationship was getting better.

She did not tell him however how she might just be falling in love with Robb all over again in a new and very different way than she had the first time.

In fact, she didn't really want to think about it too much.

So, she didn't.

xxxxxxxxx

In the afternoon he sent her a text at work: What are we doing for dinner? What are you in the mood for?

She wrote back: I don't know, anything I guess. You?

Robb: I kind of have a craving for pizza.

She chuckled to herself and wrote back: Some things never change lol.

Robb: Is that okay?

Sansa: Perfect. I'll meet you at your house at 5:30.

Robb. Sounds good. See you later.

Sansa: Ciao

Sansa grinned down at her phone.

"Talking to your boyfriend?" her co-worker, Gilly, asked as she breezed by with some files to be put away.

Sansa slipped her phone in her back pocket and felt her cheeks warm. "Um…yeah." It would be a bit awkward to explain to Gilly why a simple text message between her and her brother could make her smile like a teenager with a crush.

Gilly went on her way and Sansa, out of guilt, texted Aegon to see how his day was going and tried not think about the fact that she didn't smile in quite the same way when she had gotten that text from Robb. Nor did she feel an all over body tremble at just the prospect of seeing Aegon and spending time with him the way she did thinking about how she and Robb would be together tonight.

Sansa put it out of her mind. She denied it to herself. That's what she did when she got too close to what she didn't want to think about it. To what she didn't want to deal with. She had gotten so good at lying and covering things up, she even did it with herself.

xxxxxxx

Robb had saved books and articles that Marcia had written. He showed them to her at dinner and when she went to reach for one of the books, Robb batted her hands away. "You just touched greasy pizza. You're not getting that crap on this book."

Her eyes went wide. "You are at a whole new level of dork right now."

He shot her a look and then shoved his books and articles back in the tote he'd brought with him.

She pointed at him. "Did you actually put her articles in a scrapbook?"

"I recall someone else doing that when David Sedaris would publish something in _The New Yorker_."

"David Sedaris is a genius and a riot."

"Marcia is a genius."

"She's like, what – sixty now? You would so bang her, wouldn't you?"

"Eat your pizza."

Sansa laughed. "You would!"

He laughed too, and Sansa wondered if this was one of those times when the lines blurred between siblings and boyfriend and girlfriend because this? It felt like a date. And teasing him was much the way she and Aegon would tease each other. And yet there was this other layer to it that was very much of their old sibling dynamic before the fire.

Sansa wondered if he thought about it. If he was just happy the way things were right now the way she was and didn't want to put any pressure on any of it. Or maybe as they healed, and this was what it was, wasn't it, he found he wanted her less, maybe didn't even love her the way he thought he did.

Yet another thing Sansa didn't want to think about.

xxxxxxxxx

Robb was just too adorable for words. Sansa couldn't stop watching him and how excited he got seeing his idol. She barely even listened to the woman speak, so taken with watching Robb beaming at the stage and nudging her excitedly.

And then after, when he got a chance to meet her and have her sign his books and scrapbook…she just watched him. And smiled. And thought, _God, what a dork._

 _But he's my dork._

When he came back to her, he rambled on about how amazing she was and Sansa just smiled and looked at him.

"What?" he asked.

"You're just adorable," she blurted out.

His eyes went a bit wide and Sansa cleared her throat and nodded towards his bag o' books. "So, did she sign everything?"

"She did," he said softly.

She smiled and looked up at him. He looked almost reverently at her and Sansa shifted on her feet, suddenly quite nervous. _It really does feel like a date,_ she thought.

"Did you exchange phone numbers?" she teased to hopefully dispel the sudden charge in the air. "Did you tell her you'll start her fan club? Are you even going to be able to sleep tonight?"

He pointed at her. "You're a brat."

She grinned. "I know. It's one of my many charms."

Then, because she was a glutton for punishment, she slung her arm through his and they walked together to his car. She liked leaning against him, feeling the solidity of him. She liked the way he smelled. She loved his voice, his mouth, his eyes –

 _Stop_.

She didn't want to leave him. She wanted to sleep over. It wasn't even sex she wanted from him, more of his presence. More of just… _him_.

So, of course she forced herself to go home. Aegon was thrilled to see her. He chattered on to her about his day in that exuberant way Aegon had that reminded her a bit of Robb that night, though in general Robb's excitement came in bursts. Aegon could get excited about anything at any moment – a glass of wine, a song, a passage in a book. Nothing was off limits with Aegon. Robb was not so excitable. He was so…steady. So when he did get excited it was a treat to watch. Like settling in and watching your favorite sitcom because you knew he was just going to get more and more adorable as time went on.

It wasn't that she didn't love how excitable Aegon got about things either. She loved his passion. It so closely matched her own. Maybe too much.

And maybe it was because she had been wound up all day thinking about being with Robb that night and then actually being with him, and seeing him act like a kid in the candy store – knowing that she had brought him joy and happiness when previous to this all she'd brought him was misery – maybe that was why when Aegon made it clear with his kisses and caresses that he wanted to have sex with her, Sansa went with it.

And if she closed her eyes and thought of Robb being above her, Aegon never knew. He just chalked it up to passion because what else could he possibly think but that?


	33. Thirty-two

When Robb picked up his phone in the middle of the afternoon after seeing Sansa's name across the front of it, he left his desk to go outside and talk to her in private.

She was upset, and if there was one thing Robb could not stand it was hearing Sansa upset.

"Robb, there's this kitten that came in today and he's so skinny and maybe sick," she told him. "He was found in some box on the side of the road and brought in by some kind resident. We're treating him, but we don't have the space to keep him long-term and the shelter is full to capacity. I want to take him home so bad but Aegon is allergic and he just really needs a home. Can you take him, Robb? Please?"

Robb didn't think she'd taken a breath during that spiel and it was a bit difficult to understand her through her tears. "Sweetheart, why don't I come down and see him first, okay?"

"Okay. When?"

"I can come now if that's okay?"

"Yes, please. He's so sweet, Robb."

He laughed softly. "I trust you. I'll see you in a few okay?"

"Thank you!"

He rushed back in to gather his keys and jacket and let his boss know he was leaving for a while, and then he rushed out to see Sansa at the vet's office. Halfway there he realized he'd called her sweetheart and she hadn't said anything about it.

Granted, she had been upset and distracted so maybe she hadn't noticed…?

It was just that things were going so well right now between them. They were spending time together. They were talking and laughing together. Yes, there were things unsaid between them, things that sometimes felt like a giant elephant in the room, but he had his Sansa back in some capacity.

He sometimes wondered if the time she spent with him made her relationship with Aegon suffer, but he was afraid to mention it. Afraid that she would then not come around so much and he didn't want that. There was still the question of Aegon's proposal and whether or not she'd accepted, but he would have thought that if she'd accepted it she would have told him by now.

He feared the day she would tell him she had accepted it. What would he do then? What would become of them? Of him? Would her acceptance mean she was over him, or would it mean that she wanted to live a normal life?

Not that he could blame her for wanting to live a normal life. It would be a lot easier to not love his sister the way he did. To not want her the way he did.

This time together was a gift. It was different than before. The weight of grief wasn't ever present and pressing down on them. Grief had brought them together, but that wasn't what would _keep_ them together. If together was how they ended up.

It was like he'd fallen in love with Sansa all over again. Or just somehow differently than before. She made him laugh; she made him smile. She was smart and sweet and kind and so fucking beautiful he couldn't stand it.

He knew he'd loved her before, but now…now it was deeper. More intense. Sometimes, he forgot that she was his sister. Sometimes it was like she was any other woman he could have fallen for. And yet there was this thread of what they were – brother and sister – that bound them together.

Robb wasn't sure how long they could sustain what they had going on right now. He supposed until she told him she was engaged. Possibly when they attempted to discuss the things that thus far they'd avoided?

If he could be promised that he wouldn't lose Sansa if they did talk about the elephant(s) in the room, then he would bring those things up. But since he couldn't be promised that, he kept his mouth shut.

Sansa was waiting for him outside the vet's when he arrived. She walked into the parking lot to greet him and when he was out of the door, she flung her arms around him. Robb hugged her back and ran his fingers though her hair with one hand. "It's okay, sweetheart."

"How could anyone just leave a little kitten like that out in the rain?" she asked tearfully.

Robb leaned back and wiped her tears away with the pads of his thumbs. "Perhaps, veterinarian is not an option for you? Or maybe it is…?"

She smiled weakly. "I named him Loki."

"If it has the personality of Loki I'm not sure I want it."

She smiled. "I don't know if he does or not yet. But he's all black and has these pretty green eyes." She pulled out of his arms and took his arm. "Come on."

Sansa led the way inside and took him in the back to see Loki. The kitten was in a cage surrounded by other animals in cage, a mix of cats and dogs. There was a cacophony of barking and meowing surrounding them, plus the smell that one would imagine so many animals in one place would have. Yet everything was clean. The cages practically sparkled.

Loki was curled up and taking a nap and Sansa opened the cage to pick him up ever so gently. She cooed at the kitten and it blinked its wide green eyes at her and then meowed. Sansa smiled at him and kissed the top of his head.

"I'll take him," Robb said.

Sansa looked at him, her eyes wide. "You will?"

Robb nodded. If the kitten brought her that much joy, of course he would.

Sansa beamed at him and hugged him with her free arm. She then put Loki in Robb's arms and Loki looked at him in question and then yawned. Robb grinned at the cat. He was quite adorable.

Sansa rested her head on Robb's shoulder. "Loki, this is your Daddy. His name is Robb."

"Are you his Momma?" Robb asked her softly.

"Yes, I am," she replied just as softly.

"When am I allowed to take him home?" Robb asked.

"In a few days. We are making sure he eats and we're running some tests on him to make sure he's okay. We figure he's about two months old." She sighed and looked up at him. "Thank you for doing this."

Robb felt the instinct rise up to kiss her. It felt as though if he did it would be natural, something a couple did. It wouldn't have been a passionate kiss, just a quick peck on the lips to convey comfort and support.

He looked back at Loki before he gave into the urge. "How could I separate him from his Momma?"

She kissed his cheek and it was with supreme willpower Robb didn't turn his head and kiss her. This time it would have been passionate.

"Do you want to go shopping later for supplies for him?" she asked.

Robb smiled as Loki yawned again. He looked down at Sansa, at her beautiful, hopeful, upturned face and said, "Yes, I'd like that."

xxxxxxxx

"Are you ever going to give me an answer?"

Sansa looked up from the book she'd been not reading (her mind was drifting to Robb as it always seemed to lately) and looked at Aegon as he stood before her. He looked tired. She knew he was. He'd been working so hard.

"Aegon—"

"It's no, isn't it?" Sansa just looked at him. He hung his head. "Did you ever love me, Sansa?"

 _I loved that you weren't Robb. I loved that you weren't my brother. You were my chance at normal._ "Yes," she said. "In my own way."

Aegon laughed bitterly. "What does that even mean?"

 _It means I loved what you stood for, not for who you actually are._ "I don't know."

"Do you need more time? Is that it? More time to be sure of me? I can give you that if that's what you want."

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Aegon."

"Not as sorry as I am," he whispered.

"I'll move out. I can get my own place. Will you just let me stay here until I find it? I'll sleep on the couch."

"I'm not a fucking monster, Sansa. You can take the bed." He looked ready to cry. "I really love you, you know."

"I'm sorry."

"You know if I knew that pushing you and Robb together would result in this, I never would have encouraged it."

Her heart started to race. What did he know? What was he saying? "What do you mean?" she asked.

"You spend almost all your free time with him. You practically have a cat now with him. I think you and Robb would be perfectly fine spending the rest of your lives together. A bachelor and a spinster."

Sansa winced at that and Aegon swore. "It's my turn to go for a walk before I say anything else I regret," he said and stormed off.

Sansa put her book down and drew her legs up. She hugged them to her chest and wondered if this was something she would tell Robb about or wait until she was in her place.


	34. Thirty-three

Robb leaned in the doorway of his living room and watched Sansa play with Loki. She had bought him this toy that looked like a fishing rod, but made out of plastic, and much shorted than an actual fishing rod. At the end of it was a shiny stuffed goldfish that Loki wasn't at first too sure about. He watched Sansa dangle it in front of Loki's face and when he went to reach for it, she moved it out of the way.

"You're a mean, Mama," Robb said. "At least let the poor cat get it once."

Sansa looked up at him with a grin. "Do you want to play, Robb?"

"No, I'll let you take this one. He plays with my feet while I'm trying to get ready for work in the morning." He did walk over to sit beside her though. Their knees touched and after a while Sansa laid the fake fishing rod down and Loki attached the fish with vigor.

"Is he good for you?" she asked after a quiet moment.

"He is. I've got to lock him in the study at night though so I can sleep. And before you ask, yes, I put the litter box in there with him and his food."

"It's like you know me," she said with a little laugh.

Robb took a chance and ran his hand through her hair as he moved it back over her shoulder. "I do know you. Quite well."

She bit her lip and drew her legs up close to her chest and then wrapped her arms around them. "So, I kind of have something to tell you."

Robb forced himself not to react even though his body tensed and his pulse quickened. Oh, God. She'd accepted Aegon's proposal. She was going to get married. He focused as much as he could on breathing. He wanted to run. He didn't want to hear this at all. He wasn't ready to lose her. He wasn't ever going to be ready for that. "Yeah?" he said, hoping he sounded much calmer than he felt.

"I'm moving out into a place of my own. It kind of happened really fast, and I thought it would take a lot longer to find a place, but then Gilly's boyfriend Sam is going to be moving in with her so she said I could look at Sam's place and so I—"

Robb clamped a hand down on her knee. "Wait. What do you mean you're moving into a place of your own? What happened to Aegon?"

She looked sad for a minute. "We broke up."

Robb's heart began to pound in his chest. "You….you broke up? Why?"

"He asked me to marry him," she said. "I said no."

 _She said no. She said no. She said no._

"Why did you say no? Do you not love him?" he asked. He needed to know why. He had to.

"I didn't love him enough to marry him."

Okay, so what did that mean for him exactly then? Robb wondered. "I see." But he didn't. Not really.

"So I need some help moving. I actually kind of need some stuff – and before you ask, no I won't be dipping into my inheritance, not a lot anyway. I have been able to put some money away from my job."

"Why can't you just move in here with me? I got this place with an extra room for you so—"

"It's your study, Robb."

"So? I can easily find other places for all that crap to go. My bedroom is quite bare because all that stuff in my study used to be in my bedroom."

"No," she said. "I need to do this, Robb. I need to be on my own. I think it would be good for me. I went from your place to Gram and Gramps, to London and hostels and then to Aegon's and I just…I want to be on my own. I want to take care of myself for a while instead of everyone taking care of me. I just want something of my own, ya know? My own space. My own things. When I lived with you they were your things. When I lived with Gram and Gramps, it was their things. With Aegon, it was his things. I feel like I've become this transient being that has nothing of her own. My Buffy DVD collection is complete, but I don't have my own TV to watch them on."

He got it. He did. It was just that…well, he just wanted her with him. In _his_ place. But he knew he couldn't force that on her, and honestly, this was a big step for Sansa. She was taking a big step into adulthood. Into standing on her own.

"I'm proud of you," he said softly.

She looked at him with a hopeful smile. "Yeah?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

Her smiled grew wider. More confident. "So, you'll help me move?"

"Yes, sweetheart, I'll help you move."

"And you'll take a trip to IKEA with me?"

He sighed and nodded. "And I'll take a trip to IKEA with you."

She kissed his check quickly and reached for the fishing rod that Loki had temporarily forgotten about. "You're the best," she told him.

"I know," he said and they both laughed.

xxxxxxxxxx

Before the trip to IKEA, Sansa visited a few consignment shops, Goodwill, and a Savers and managed to at least get a kitchen table and chairs, a couch, a couple loungers, a microwave, and a couple bookcases. All for fairly cheap and in good condition. Robb had her old bed, sheets, and blankets in storage, so she was at least good on that end.

It hadn't been an easy day saying goodbye to Aegon. The few weeks before she moved, he practically lived at the office. The night before she left, he got stinking drunk and begged her to reconsider. Then, the day she actually left, he made himself scarce.

Gilly, Sam, and Robb helped her move despite the fact that Gilly and Sam had already gone through helping Sam move in with Gilly a two weeks prior. They were just that kind and helpful.

Sansa noted on moving day how much she actually had to hold back on touching Robb. When they were alone and in his apartment she thought nothing of touching him at random – a hand on his arm, her head on his shoulder, or just simply leaning into him when she wanted to feel him close to her. (Sleeping in his bed with him that one afternoon aside). With Sam and Gilly around though, those things she thought were innocent, she realized might not be to others. Again, the lines had blurred. Touching Robb at random (and often) was certainly one of the most innocent things she had done to him, but looking at it through the lens of an outsider, she could now see how those touches were flirty, or indicative of what she felt for him.

Sansa found herself torn again between what she wanted to do and what she should do. They lived in a bubble, she realized. When she and Robb were together it was as if the outside world didn't matter. It didn't register. But once they were with the outside world, it was a conscious shift to acting more like brother and sister and less like…whatever it was they were at the moment.

Sansa didn't know how to define her relationship with Robb at present save that they were in a better place. Sex wasn't mucking it all up, but there was still that strand of want there. Of need. There was a marked difference to this incarnation of their relationship compared to last time. When she looked back on it, she saw how sex had convoluted so much of what they were to each other, and what they meant to each other. Taking sex out of the equation had made her remember, and maybe Robb too (she hoped), that at the core of their relationship was support, a real caring for how the other was doing and, of course, the one aspect that kept it all together: love.

Sansa was aware of the brother/sister love they had, but there was that "other" love too. She thought of _Jane Eyre_ and of that scene in which Rochester tells Jane that he felt there was a cord between them that was attached to their hearts and bound them together. Sansa felt that. She'd felt it all along, but in different ways. She certainly had experience in that cord being stretched (just as Rochester and Jane had). It had been like silly putty that had been pulled apart and there was just that very thin, almost imperceptible thread that reached out for the piece it had been severed from. Robb and Sansa had been those pieces, each containing a thread so imperceptible it was hard to tell it was there, but there it had been.

Now they were connected once again, and firmly, but Sansa didn't know if there was any moving forward from this state they were in. And what would moving forward for them mean anyway? Moving forward as they were and eventually getting to the point where they could date others because they'd worked through their feelings for one another, or moving forward together as one unit – as in becoming a couple? Sure, she had broken up with Aegon, but she had been aware that it was her feelings for Robb that held her back. Would she wake up one day and realize that her feelings for Robb were now a thing of the past? That all this time together had healed and "cured" them of this "other" love?

But if not, if they did decide to be together, how would that work exactly? It felt at once impossible and possible. Possible because had they not already been pushed to the complete brink of ruin in which that cord could have snapped entirely? Sansa had gone from shutting Robb out completely to not being able to let a day go by without some kind of contact.

And now here she stood, watching Robb put up some shelving in her new bedroom, and her heart felt full of him and the excitement of having her own place. All she wanted was to go to him, wrap her arms around him and just bask in his Robb-ness. Gilly and Sam were gone now, she could just bask if she wanted to.

He stood back and assessed his handy work and then looked at her. "Please don't tell me you want me to move them."

She shook her head and smiled. "Nope."

"Good," he said. "Now what else do you want me to hang?"

"Nothing yet," she said and came over to him. She gave into her desire to hug him and just wound her arms around him. After placing his hammer on the bureau next to him, Robb wound his arms around her as well. She felt him kiss the top of her head and she smiled, burrowing into him.

"Okay?" he asked.

Sansa nodded and looked up at him with a soft smile. "Just happy."

He lowered his face closer to hers and Sansa held her breath thinking – he's going to kiss me! – but he kissed her forehead instead and said, "Me too." He pulled out of her arms and asked what else needed to be done and all Sansa could think was that she hadn't realized how much she wanted Robb to kiss her until he didn't.


	35. Thirty-four

**thank you imogen74 for your help!**

"Did you check the weather report?" Sansa asked as she climbed into Robb's car on IKEA day.

"Didn't we talk about this last night already?" Robb asked.

"Is this the first time you've talked all morning?"

He looked at her oddly. "Yes, why?"

"Because you have that gravelly thing going on with your voice that you get when you talk for the first time in the morning."

"That's a super specific thing to know about me."

"Is it?" Sansa asked. "Don't forget to stop at Dunks. You need a coffee."

"Why do I need a coffee?"

"You're a little grouchy."

"How am I grouchy?"

"You just are. Trust me, I know these things."

Robb sighed. "Okay."

"See? You're kind of snippy."

"It _is_ eight o'clock in the morning," he muttered. "I don't even get up this early for work."

"It's a two and a half hour ride to IKEA, Robb."

"We still could have left later."

"I'm going to buy you a donut, too. You need some cheering up, Grumpy Gus."

A coffee and a donut later, Robb's mood did improve. "In answer to your earlier question, I watched the weather report last night. It looked like that storm was just going to miss us."

"I hope so!" Sansa said.

"How's your first week in your new place?" Robb asked

She smiled. "Wonderful. I don't have to tiptoe out of the bedroom to get a drink or go to the bathroom. There is no one I have to worry about waking up."

"Did you have to tiptoe when you lived with me?"

"Let's just say you're not the world's heaviest sleeper."

I don't remember hearing you at night."

She shrugged. "All I know is that it's nice to come home and just be. I don't have to talk to anyone, I don't have to listen to anyone…"

"Gee, thanks."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Do you need another coffee?"

Robb chuckled. "I'm kidding. I know what you mean though."

"What are you trying to say? Was I difficult to live with?"

Robb looked at her as though ready to defend himself and Sansa erupted in laughter. "I'm teasing you."

"Brat," Robb told her.

Sansa merely grinned at him.

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"Oh my God, I want to live in here," Sansa gushed as she and Robb stepped into another mock-up of an IKEA-decorated apartment.

Robb jammed his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "I'm beginning to worry that you don't like your apartment. We've seen five of these kinds of displays and you've said that about every single one."

Sansa sighed as she lay down on the bed in this particular mock-up. "Maybe I could just live in the store. I would have everything I needed. All the Swedish meatballs I could ever hope for." She held out her hand. "Lay down with me."

Robb lay down on the bed with her on his back. "The fluorescent lighting above reminds you where you are." He turned his head to look at her. "Does one really _need_ all the Swedish meatballs they could hope for?"

" _Yes_. Now, be quiet. I'm imagining I live here." She closed her eyes and then smiled when she felt him move closer. Her smile faltered when she felt him running a hand through her hair, moving it away from her face. She had to stop herself from leaning into his touch. She opened her eyes and found Robb watching her intently.

Sansa's instinct was to turn away, to end this moment, but she forced herself instead to meet his gaze. His hand cupped the side of her face and his thumb moved across her lips gently. Her lips parted and she started to lean in to Robb when loud laughter snapped them out of her daze.

They looked over to find a group of people entering the space they were in and they both sat up and got up off the bed. They slipped away and started to make their way through the store side-by-side, but didn't speak.

Sansa's heart raced. She'd almost kissed him – she'd been ready to. And she wanted to kiss him still. If the way Robb held himself so straight and tall was any indication he'd wanted to kiss her too. And still.

"Didn't you say you need something to put your TV on?" he asked her and turned into the area where there were cabinets and entertainment centers and shelving.

Sansa nodded and followed him, but she didn't see anything. He pointed things out to her and inspected them and Sansa just stood there, wanting to kiss him and unable to think about anything else.

"What do you think of this one?" he asked as he knelt before a low white TV unit with a drawer. "You could put your movies in here."

Sansa knelt down before him as though she meant to inspect it but instead she looked at him. "Robb," she whispered.

He looked at her and knew. She could practically feel her need and desire contorting her face. He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw. When he looked at her again he said, "You have to be sure, Sansa."

Sure that she wanted to kiss him? She was sure of that. Sure of came after that? She wasn't; she hadn't a clue.

He stood abruptly and Sansa felt a cry of protest bubbling up from inside her. Robb reached down and grabbed her arm. "Come with me," he murmured.

He pulled her with him, off the beaten track, into one of the displays that was sequestered off like an actual room.

"No one knows us here," she whispered. "The chances are slim that we'd run into anyone who knows us."

"Still…" he whispered back and moved in close, so close Sansa could feel the warmth of his body and his breath on her face. "San—"

Sansa went to her tiptoes and kissed him, cutting him off completely. They both moaned. A moan of need and _God, yes, finally_.

He clutched at her, and Sansa lifted her hands and dug them through his curls.

The kiss ended, leaving them both breathless. Sansa rested her cheek against his and sighed.

"We should get back to shopping," he murmured and ran a hand down her hair.

She pulled back and looked up at him, wondering if he regretted that. But then he kissed her and she knew that no, he did not.

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They couldn't seem to stop touching each other, though Robb was a tad hesitant at first to do so. Whether it was fear of running into someone they knew or because he feared her reaction, Sansa wasn't sure. She reveled in the feel of his hand at her back, on her arm, his fingers running through her hair. And Sansa couldn't stop leaning into him when they stood next to each other, putting her arm through his as they walked and just looking up at him and smiling, hoping to convey how very happy he made her.

When they got to the warehouse portion of their shopping trip, Robb pulled her behind an aisle and kissed her. Sansa never wanted to leave IKEA. It was certainly a magical place and now even more than for its cheaply priced furniture.

After checking out and getting out to the parking garage, Sansa and Robb both stopped and stared.

"When did you check the weather report again?" Sansa asked.

"Last night," Robb muttered. "Shit."

It was snowing. Steadily. They could see it coming down through space between the floors of the parking garage and it was cold – bitterly cold.

"We can't drive home in this," Sansa told him.

"Well, let's get the car loaded first and get outside to see how bad it is," Robb said.

As it turned out, it was pretty bad. Both of them checked their phones for the weather report and it was expected that two-six inches would fall.

"It's almost three hours home," Sansa said. "Let's not do that. It will take us six in this crap."

"What do you suggest then?"

"Well, we could ask the fine people of IKEA if we could shack up in one of their apartment models."

Robb laughed and shook his head. "Or we find a hotel."

Sansa liked the idea of that. A lot. She held back her excitement over the prospect of spending a night in a hotel room with him though and said nonchalantly, "Yes, let's see what we can find."

GPS's were also wonderful things, and soon they not only found a hotel, but close by was a Wal-Mart so they could get overnight supplies. While Robb checked them into the hotel (into one room, with two beds) Sansa pressed herself against his side and slid a hand up under his coat and rubbed the small of his back.

Robb just glanced at her, but didn't say a word. Once they were in the car, Robb kissed her hungrily and Sansa smiled into the kiss. "Have a care, sweetheart," he muttered. "I very nearly got hard standing there."

She kissed him again and then off they went to Wal-Mart to get a few things for their overnight stay. After that, they stopped at a nearby restaurant for dinner and then back to the hotel room they went to shower and change into their newly purchased pajamas.

They found themselves laying side-by-side on one of the beds, just looking at each other and talking.

"I love your eyes," she told him.

He smiled. "I love yours."

"I love your hair," she told him.

"I love yours," he said.

"I love your nose and your mouth and your beard," she said.

"I love your nose and your mouth," he said "…and your chin."

She laughed and then sighed. "I just love your face."

"I love yours," he murmured and took her hand in his. He kissed the back of it and then twined their fingers together.

"I've missed this," she whispered.

"Exactly which part?" he asked.

"You know, when we used to check in to random hotels for the night together. You don't remember that?"

He laughed and moved closer to her. "Do you mean sharing a bed?"

"Yes," she whispered. "I miss how we'd always chat before bed. Talk about our day and whatever was on our minds. I miss being next to you and feeling you there." She cuddled into him and placed her head under his chin. "I missed _you_."

"I've always been here, Sansa," he murmured. "Waiting for you."

There were probably a million things they could say to each other then – things they still needed to work out between them, but it didn't feel like the right time. This was enough for now. This being together. It made Sansa feel whole in way she hadn't felt in a very long time. She hoped Robb felt the same way.

He rubbed her back in soothing circles and before long she fell asleep, content and happy and warm in Robb's embrace.


	36. Thirty-five

Sansa woke up slowly, where she was and what had led to where she was slowly coming back to her. She smiled sleepily when she remembered how she and Robb had kissed. Many times. And how they'd shared a bed.

She reached out for him only to come up empty. Her eyes popped open and she found Robb up and standing in front of the windows. One shade was open and he stood there with his arms folded across his chest in his newly purchased pajama bottoms and long-sleeved shirt.

Sansa sat up. "What are you doing?" she asked, her voice rough from sleep.

Robb looked over his shoulder at her and smiled. "Watching the plows clear the parking lot."

Sansa climbed out of bed and went to stand beside him. She wasn't quite sure what was so fascinating about the plows, but she did find the snow on the trees quite pretty. Robb wrapped an arm around her and Sansa hummed happily and curled into his side.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked softly.

"I always sleep well when we share a bed," she murmured. She looked up at him. "You?"

He nodded and smiled gently. "Yeah, me too."

Sansa put her head against his chest. "Let's not go back to Winterfell. Let's stay here."

"Why don't you want to go home?"

"Because no one knows us here. We can be whatever – or whoever – we want." She sighed. "Aside from the fact that I missed you in London, I liked being away from all the memories."

"You missed me?" he sounded almost afraid to ask that.

"Of course I did," she murmured. "Why do you think I didn't want to see you, Robb?"

"Because you hated me."

"I was hurt," she said and pushed out of his arms to go back to the bed. "And I wanted to hate you, but couldn't. I hated that I _couldn't_ hate you."

Sansa climbed back into the bed and sat up against the headboard, pulling the blankets over her. Robb came over and sat down so that he was facing her, a quizzical expression on his face. "It certainly seemed like you hated me. You wouldn't let me see you; you never returned my calls or answered any of my messages…" He looked down. "The last time we…we made love you said you hated me. You hit me and told me you hated me."

She looked regretful. "I was angry. You sent me away to put an end to…us. And then you changed your mind."

"I didn't change my mind, Sansa. I never stopped wanting you and I never stopped loving you. It was just that I was tired of trying to fight it. I was _done_ trying to pretend that I was just your brother and that you didn't mean more to me to that. I was afraid to admit how much I loved you because then that meant that I had done what a brother doesn't do – it meant that I had truly fallen in love with you. I didn't want to hurt you when you were already dealing with so much – we both were - and I was afraid that I had. In the eyes of the world we're sick."

"I know," she whispered. "I just never really felt that way until I left. I mean, I knew it wasn't something a brother and sister did, or should do, but when we were together it was all I wanted."

"Me too," he whispered.

"I've never hated you, Robb. I thought it would easier if I did and so I tried to. I thought if I just cut you out completely . . . it's a lot harder to get over someone when you're not in constant contact with them."

"You said you'd be ready to see me again when you were over me," he said.

"Well, that didn't exactly work out for me, did it?"

 _Say it, Sansa,_ he thought. _Say you love me._ "What do you want to do now?" he asked.

She sighed and glanced at the clock. "I suppose we should shower and get home."

That wasn't what he'd meant, but he supposed for the time being the serious discussion they'd just had was enough. They had some time to figure out all the rest.

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A new routine had started. Or rather, perhaps it wasn't that it was new considering all the time they'd been spending together, but after their trip to IKEA, Robb and Sansa incorporated kissing into their time spent together.

Granted, when they were around other people that was something that could not be done, but then Sansa seemed to like to torture them both. One afternoon she brought him lunch at work and they sat together in the newspaper breakroom, alone.

Robb was having a hard time concentrating on lunch when all he wanted to do was kiss her. This, of course, allowed her, to steal his chips without his notice. When he realized he was missing some, he shot her a glare and she grinned at him.

Then she stretched her leg out under the table and rubbed the side of his with her foot. All the while looking innocently at him.

"You are a horrible tease," he told her and grabbed her bag of chips. "It won't do any good to make me hard while I'm sitting here."

She laughed and drew her leg away. "Is it awkward now with Talisa?"

Robb sighed. "Yes, but I found out today she is leaving."

"Oh?"

"She got a new job."

Sansa frowned. "Because of you?"

"I don't know if it's because of me…"

She cocked her head to the side. "But you think maybe?"

He made a face and nodded.

Sansa crumpled up saran wrap her tuna and avocado sandwich had been in. "It's just cause you're so hot, Robb."

He grinned. "Am I?"

She nodded. "You are. Especially when you wear all black like today. It kind of makes me want to…lick you."

He nearly choked on the chip he was chewing on. He swallowed hard. "Lick me?" He leaned forward. "Exactly where do you want to lick me?"

Her smile was mischievous as she grabbed a grape from the container in front of her and popped it in her mouth. Robb sat back, sending her another glare. "You're mean." She laughed again.

When it was time for Sansa to return to work, they cleaned up their lunch and headed to the door when Robb locked the door and pulled her to the corner of the room. He pushed her against the wall and kissed her long and slow and passionately. He hummed as he broke the kiss and then left tender little kisses on her cheek and temple and forehead. "You taste like grapes," he murmured.

"You taste like salt," she said softly and captured his mouth for another kiss. She tugged on his bottom lip with her teeth and Robb groaned.

"Will I see you tonight?" he asked, a bit breathlessly.

"Yes," she whispered. "To be continued?"

"Definitely." He was about to kiss her again because he really just couldn't get enough, but then someone knocked on the door and they had no choice but to separate.

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Much time was spent making out. There was even some under the shirt stuff, but Robb never went further than that and neither did Sansa.

One night while they made out on the couch in her apartment – her sitting sideways on his lap, and his hand tangled in her hair to keep her close – Sansa pulled her mouth from his and then moaned when he used the opportunity to kiss her neck.

She slid one hand through his curls at the back of his head and tugged lightly. "Robb."

"Hmm?" he hummed and kissed his way back to her mouth.

"Why won't you make love to me?" she asked.

He froze, pulled back, and looked at her. "What?"

"Why won't you make love to me?"

"I am, sweetheart," he said as he tugged on a strand of her hair and kissed her. "This is me making love to you."

"You know what I mean."

He sighed and ducked his head.

Sansa felt worry ripple through her. "Do you not want me anymore?"

His head snapped up. "No, God, Sansa, no. I want you. Can't you feel how hard I am for you right now?"

"Then why…?"

"Because I made a promise to myself when you started coming around that I wouldn't push you into anything, that I would let you take the lead." He drew her face down to his and pressed their foreheads together. "I nearly lost you before by pushing what I wanted on you—"

"As you pointed out once before I was the one that initiated our quickie in the museum."

"Yes, but then the last time we were together I felt like I forced myself on you."

"You didn't. You were right when you said I knew what would happen if I came to see you. I wanted you, Robb. I wouldn't have gone through with it if I didn't want it."

Robb lifted his head and looked at her. "Last time we were together we were grieving. We grieved and had sex. I fell in love with you then, but all those feelings were so tangled up in grief that I couldn't separate them enough to fully realize that. It's different now. It's been different since you came home again, and all this time we've had together it's like I've fallen in love with you all over again, but differently."

She nodded in understanding. "The grief isn't ruling us." She put her hand on his chest, over his heart. "It's _real_."

He nodded and took her face in his hands. "I need to hear you say it, Sansa. I need to hear you say you love me."

She leaned in and kissed him sweetly. "I love you, Robb."

He shut his eyes, their breath mingling together. "I never thought I'd hear you say that again."

"I love you," she whispered. She pulled his hands from her face and then climbed off his lap. Robb reached for her, a look of desperation on his face. Sansa smiled and took his hands in hers. "Let's go to bed."


	37. Chapter Thirty-six

Robb stopped in the hallway before he and Sansa reached his bedroom and she turned to look at him, her brows furrowed. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"I just…what do you see happening if we do this?" he asked.

"I see us being together," she replied as though she didn't quite understand where he was going with the question.

He breathed out a long sigh. "What does that mean exactly though? For me it means that we figure out how we'll be together – _really_ be together, not just sex. I know that means we have to figure out how being together would work but I…I love you so much and I don't want to be without you again."

"I don't want to be without you either, Robb," she told him as she grasped his other hand in hers and looked up at him. "It's too hard. I spent so much time just trying to get over you and I failed miserably at it."

"Me too," Robb breathed and pulled her closer to him. "I know it won't be easy. I know we'd have to be careful…" He frowned. "There are things we'd have to decide like…do you want kids?"

Sansa blinked. "What?"

"Just – if we're going to do this – be together, I mean – then what about kids? Because I'm not sure that you and I could or even _should_ do that…"

"You're really killing the mood."

He laughed softly. "I'm sorry. It's just I want to do this right. We jumped into something we didn't understand before…something that was too _big_ for us to understand and I don't want to make the same mistake again. We never talked about what was happening before and I don't want to do that again. I want all our cards laid out on the table."

She kissed him softly and then said, "Then let's talk."

Sansa still went into his bedroom and climbed up on the bed, sitting cross-legged on what used to be her side of the bed. Robb climbed onto it after her and sat cross-legged facing her. For the next few hours they talked about what being together meant, how they would handle family, and the possibility or impossibility of kids. They also discussed living together again, and Sansa told Robb that when the time was right she would live with him again.

"Here's one for you," she said and picked at a thread on his comforter.

"Yeah?"

"What do you think about leaving Winterfell?"

He cocked his head to the side. "You want to leave here?"

She nodded. "I really do. It's not that I'm avoiding…it's just that sometimes I find it hard to heal when so much of this place just smacks me in the face." She laughed a little. "Hey, that rhymed. But seriously, I just think it would be easier to be together in a place where no one knows us. It was like when we went to IKEA, ya know? There was a certain level of freedom there."

"I would have to find a new job," he said thoughtfully.

"And I'd have to find a place where I could go to school. But it's not like it's something we have to do right away," she said. "We can take some time to think about it."

"It would make the most sense though, wouldn't it? The having to hide would be less."

"Is it something you want to do though?" she asked.

"The first time we talked about it I was open to the idea, and then you left and I thought – I have to stay here for Sansa. This is our home. It never really occurred to me that I could go somewhere else. Aunt Lysa and Uncle Edmure came to visit us here, this was our hometown growing up – I guess I felt like I couldn't leave. And then I wasn't sure I wanted to because of those same reasons. However, I get what you mean about being smacked in the face with memories. It's not very easy, is it?"

Sansa shook her head. "It's really not."

"We would have to make plans. Such as where you want to go to school and when do you want to start in that new school?"

And so the conversation of their future continued until they both started yawning.

"Stay the night?" Robb asked after the fifth time Sansa yawned in a twenty minute span.

She nodded and rubbed her eyes. "Thank God it's the weekend, huh? Can I borrow a shirt?"

"You could sleep naked if you wanted."

She shot him a look and he grinned. She climbed off the bed and went to his drawer and pulled out a t-shirt. She then went to the bathroom and Robb changed while she was in there. Then she came out and he went in. Finally, they met in his bed and Sansa wasted no time in snuggling up to him. "I've missed this bed," she murmured.

"Just the bed?" he teased.

She smiled. "Obviously not."

"I know," he whispered and kissed her softly and slowly. "I love you, Sansa."

"I love you, Robb," she whispered back.

"I have a confession to make," he told her as he rubbed her back slowly.

"What's that?"

"I knew Aegon proposed to you."

She blinked. "What?"

"He came to see me after he'd proposed. He wanted to know what he could do to help you. He knew you were unhappy and he also knew that there was a rift between us. He wanted to see what he could do to mend it."

"Why didn't you tell me any of this?"

"Because I figured if you wanted me to know you would tell me. I wanted to give you the space and time you needed to work things out. After he came to see me was when we started taking our walks together. Everything was so precarious then I didn't want to do anything to ruin it. I was afraid if I did, then you wouldn't come around anymore and whatever healing we were doing, would be ruined."

Sansa sighed and burrowed into him. "I'm sorry I made things so difficult."

Robb kissed the top of her head. "None of this was easy, Sansa." She looked up at him and he caressed the side of her face. "We're not exactly conventional."

"No, we're not. Do you think we'll make it?"

"Yes," he murmured and pushed her onto her back. "We have to. There isn't another option for me. I only want you and us…" He kissed her slowly, gently.

"Robb," she breathed, breaking the kiss. "Make love to me."

Robb pushed the shirt she wore up and off her and then pulled her panties down. Starting at her mouth, he made a path along her jaw, down her neck, and to her breasts. He made a feast of her, kissing and touching every part of her. Where before they had been ready to sleep, a second wind descended upon both of them now.

Sansa moaned and whimpered under him, arching into him, straining towards him. After he discarded his boxers, he hovered over her, bracing himself up on his arms as he gazed down at her.

Their eyes met and held as he pushed his way inside her. "I love you," he gasped. "God, I love you so much."

Sansa put her hands on his shoulders first and then slid them down to his hips. She guided him into her again and again and he kissed her passionately, almost fiercely.

All too soon Robb was ready to come, but he wouldn't let go without her. He placed his thumb at her clit and stroked her until she came apart in his arms, crying out his name and clinging to him as though he was her lifeline. Robb let go then, coming hard inside her. He fell against her and held himself there while Sansa dug her fingers in the curls at the nape of his neck and murmured to him how she loved and would love him always.

Fearing he would crush her, Robb finally moved to the side and dragged her with him into his arms where she stayed until morning.


	38. Chapter 38

**Two Years Later**

"Just remember that I love you both and want you happy," Uncle Edmure said to Robb and Sansa as they stood with him at his car in their new home in Providence, Rhode Island.

"We both do," Aunt Lyssa said and nudged her brother in the side.

Uncle Edmure looked down at his sister warily. "They know that, Lyss."

She shrugged and then looked at Robb and Sansa. "Are you sure that living together is the best idea? What about dating? If you want someone to stay over?"

Sansa leaned into Robb a bit until they bumped shoulders. "It just makes sense to us after all we've been through," Sansa said. "We will work all that out as it comes." That was a lie of course. She wasn't sleeping in the bedroom that Aunt Lyssa had taken during her visit, despite the fact that it appeared she was. She and Robb slept together in his—no, _their_ bed. And there would be no dating of others. She and Robb were together, and here in their new hometown, they were much freer to be seen as being together. Even when a random visit from their aunt and uncle threw things off. To be fair though, this was their first visit since she and Robb had moved in six months ago.

She knew both of them didn't understand their living together, and they struggled with why they had to move out of Winterfell too, but they had also learned they couldn't stop Sansa and Robb from doing what they wanted to do.

Sansa got the sense from Uncle Edmure that he might suspect something "unnatural" was happening, but he didn't seem about to push the issue too much. Sansa just figured her uncle wanted to pretend that everything was normal because it was just easier for him to do so.

As long as they didn't do anything to pull her and Robb apart, Sansa let them think whatever they wanted.

They were happy, finally. Robb had a new job working for the newspaper in Providence that he loved, and Sansa was going to school working toward a degree in psychology. Oddly enough, she wanted to be a grief counselor.

Still, their aunt and uncle looked uncertain, but gave them both hugs anyway and then they were off. Sansa let out a long slow breath as did Robb.

"I felt like I've been holding my breath since they got here," Robb said from beside her.

"Me too," she said. "Let's go inside."

Together they made their trek into their new apartment, a spacious apartment with tons of windows, high ceilings, and a mile walk down to the beach. Sansa loved it, and had decked it out with a definite beach theme.

This was _their_ place, and it _felt_ like their place.

Once the door was closed behind them, Robb pulled Sansa into his arms and the two just held each other for a while, breathing together and shaking off the stress of the visit from their aunt and uncle.

"We got through it," Robb said finally and leaned back to look at her. He smiled and then leaned in and kissed her softly.

"I think Uncle Edmure suspects something."

Robb sighed. "I kind of got that feeling too, but he didn't do anything or say anything and I don't think he will."

Sansa rested her head upon his chest. "I'm glad we're alone now."

Robb kissed the top of her head. "Me too. In fact…" He scooped her up in his arms and Sansa let out a squeal and held onto him as he carried her to their bedroom. He grinned as he lay her down on the bed and then climbed over her. "They were here for a week. I missed you in this bed. _Our_ bed."

Sansa looped her arms around his neck and brought him down for a deep kiss. "I love you," she whispered.

"And I love you," he murmured as he began to undress her. "To the moon and back."

"And back again," Sansa said and the rest of the world faded away.


End file.
